


The Will to Live

by V_Shalyr



Series: The Will to Live [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2019-10-29 02:59:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 79,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17799872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/V_Shalyr/pseuds/V_Shalyr
Summary: Three hundred years before Fairy Tail, Zeref meets a young dragon on a quest to break a curse. With dark wizards, knights, and evil dragons still fighting over the land and the right to live, it is the start of a crazy journey that will have repercussions even three hundred years into the future.[An alternative history for Natsu and Zeref, following their journey from their first meeting to a few years after Natsu joins Fairy Tail]





	1. An Unusual Encounter

When the knights arrived in the village to kill him, Zeref was half tempted to stay and let them try on the slim chance that they would actually succeed. Barely more than a hundred years after being cursed with immortality and he was already tired, and compared to the rest of eternity, a hundred years was but a drop of water in the ocean.

In the end, however, he didn't linger in the village because the farmer and his family who had given him shelter for the night had been good to him. Any sort of confrontation would only cause them trouble. Instead, Zeref thanked his hosts and left before the heavily armed men and women marched past the village boundaries. He really shouldn't have stayed with the farmer's family at all, but he'd been alone for so long that he felt as though his mind was slipping away from him. It had been a selfish decision, and it was possible that his time under their roof, however brief, would cause them trouble in the future.

He walked a ways into the woods before letting himself think about all this, and he watched the trees die around him. The sight always left him feeling cold and empty, but in this particular instance, it would serve to decrease the potential damage he might have caused. The knights would sense his magic and know that he was no longer in the village. Hopefully, they would attempt to pursue him right away and refrain from interrogating the villagers.

Zeref would wait for them farther away in the woods—see what new spells they might have come up with to try and destroy him.

When he continued on his way, it was amidst a shower of withered leaves and the silence of a forest whose creatures knew that something deadly had just come a little too close.

That made the second such danger to pass by today.

The deer lay on its side upon the riverbank, its glassy eyes staring sightlessly at the rushing water that it hadn't quite managed to cross before its neck had been broken by a well-aimed kick. It was a decently sized animal, and Natsu decided with some satisfaction that it would make for good eating. One of the benefits of being human was that a man didn't need to eat as much as a dragon did.

One of the drawbacks, he thought as he took out a knife and began skinning and gutting the carcass, was the lack of efficient claws. Hands had their advantages, of course, but nothing beat a good set of claws for disemboweling prey. Oh well, the knives and daggers he'd taken from those stupid humans would serve for now. Pity none of them had had any swords.

Natsu had just made the first cut in the deer's soft hide when he heard shouts in the distance. He couldn't make out the words, but the tension and fear in them were obvious. Hell, Natsu could smell the fear even from this distance.

He eyed the deer carcass wistfully then sighed. None of the creatures around here would dare to steal his lunch, and if any of them did, they'd be next on his menu. He might as well go see what all the ruckus was about.

The source of the commotion lay in a large clearing some distance away from the river. More than a dozen heavily armed men and women had surrounded a slender boy with disheveled black hair and skin so pale it looked almost unnatural. Despite the fact that the boy was unarmed and wore no armor, the smell of fear in the air was not coming from him but the adults around him.

The knights all held unsheathed swords, and four of them had placed themselves at the four cardinal points of the clearing. These particular knights carried gemstones set in the hilts of their blades, all of which blazed with power. Four shimmering walls of light ran from gem bearer to gem bearer, caging the boy within a four-sided prison. There was so much magic in the air that Natsu could smell that too, an almost acrid tang that told him the spell at work was a dangerous one—one meant to hurt.

"Hey! What do you lot think you're doing?"

The knights jerked in surprise at the interruption, and Natsu seized the opportunity to charge the man standing at the prison's eastern corner, calling up flames as he went. Natsu hit the guard at a dead run, delivered a punch to the man's gut that doubled him over and then wrenched the sword from his grasp. To his credit, the knight struggled valiantly to hold on to his weapon regardless of the pain and only let go when the metal burned white hot, fire searing through the leather of his gloves and scorching the skin beneath. As soon as he had a hold of the sword, Natsu broke it in half over his knee and dropped the two halves of the blade to the ground.

The prison of light vanished, and there was instant pandemonium. The knights didn't seem to know whether to keep their weapons aimed at the boy or to turn and face this new threat. Natsu cracked his knuckles and glared at the lot of them.

"It's really pathetic, you know, the whole bunch of you ganging up on someone like this."

"This is none of your business," one of the other gem bearers snapped. His white and silver garments were somewhat fancier than the others, and Natsu assumed that meant he was the captain.

"Maybe not," Natsu agreed, "but it would be pretty rotten of me to just sit back and watch. He's not even fighting back, and you're trying to kill him."

This seemed to give the knights pause. What, had they been so frightened that they hadn't even realized that their victim wasn't trying to escape?

"This boy is an abomination," the captain said at last.

Natsu didn't like his tone one bit. It was the tone people used when fear and hate and prejudice had all become mixed together into something ugly.

"Yeah?" Gold and white flames flared about Natsu's fists, and the air around him began to distort from the heat. "Well, I think what you lot are doing is pretty abominable too."

The knights took several steps back, alarmed. Even for wizard fire, these flames were unnaturally intense. They glowered at this unwanted intruder, but nothing would change the fact that their fourth artifact now lay in pieces in the dirt.

"We'll remember you," the knight captain said, returning Natsu's glare with one of his own. Then he signaled his team to retreat.

Natsu didn't let the flames fade until the sound of their heavy boots were well out of earshot. Then he turned to inspect the remaining occupant of the clearing.

The boy did not appear to be relieved. He didn't appear to be all that happy either. If anything, the expression on his face was faintly puzzled.

When he spoke, it was to say, "You shouldn't have stopped them."

Natsu frowned. That was not the reaction he had expected.

"What's that supposed to mean? You should be thanking me. You do realize they were trying to kill you, right?"

The boy nodded. "I was waiting to see if it would work."

This was such an incredibly ludicrous response that it took Natsu several long seconds to process it. When the words finally registered properly, his frown darkened into a scowl.

"Are you even listening to yourself?" He grabbed the boy by the collar of his black robes and shook him hard. "They were going to kill you, and you were just going to stand there and see if you died? How crazy do you have to be to do something like that?"

"I'm not crazy," the boy said, unperturbed by the rough treatment.

He wasn't even tense, Natsu realized, which was just abnormal for someone being shaken by the neck by a complete stranger. Looking into the boy's large, dark eyes, Natsu had to admit that he didn't look like someone who had lost his mind. The boy looked young, but he had the eyes of someone very old.

Natsu had never seen eyes so full of sadness before, and the sight made him hesitate. If the boy wasn't crazy...

He gave his head a frustrated shake. This whole incident had just been bizarre. He was irritated—and hungry to boot. He refused to stand around in this clearing and argue.

"Come on," he said, letting go of the boy's collar and turning him around so he could push him ahead of him back towards the river. "I was about to have lunch. You can explain to me what just happened here while I eat."

Zeref was... confused. Yes, confused was a very suitable word for it. He couldn't even remember how many times various groups of wizards and non-wizards had attempted to take his life. Not once had anyone tried to help him.

The strange young man directed him to a spot on the riverbank and waited for him to sit down before turning his attention to the carcass of a deer nearby. While Zeref watched, he set about preparing the deer to be cooked—which he then proceeded to do with Fire Magic.

Whoever this person was, Zeref could say for certain that he was no ordinary wizard.

"So?" the stranger prompted, biting into the venison despite the fact that it was still steaming. "Aren't you a bit young to be wandering around out here in the wilderness by yourself?"

"I'm more than a hundred," Zeref said, not seeing any point in lying. "I think that's old enough."

The stranger raised his eyebrows. "You are, huh?"

There was something odd about his eyes, Zeref thought. The eyes that surveyed Zeref from beneath wild, spiky hair were sharp and narrow, the pupils so thin they looked almost slitted. Come to think of it, Zeref thought he'd seen those eyes change during the fight earlier. And were those fangs? Zeref felt like he'd seen people like this before somewhere, but it took him a moment to connect the dots.

"Are you... a Dragon Slayer?"

The young man considered the question.

"Well, you're half right."

"Half right?" Zeref repeated, bewildered. How could he be half right about this?

"For all intents and purposes, I'm currently basically the same as a Dragon Slayer. But I'm actually a dragon, so if you want to get really technical..."

He trailed off, shrugged, and tore into another piece of deer meat.

"But how is that possible?"

"Asks the young-looking human who says he's more than a hundred years old."

He had a point.

"I'm cursed," Zeref said, seeing no reason to keep this a secret.

"Yeah?" Natsu grinned. "What a coincidence. So am I."

This conversation was starting to get very strange. Zeref wondered if he was the only one who thought so.

"But dragons are notoriously resistant to magic."

"Yeah. Surprised me too." The young man gestured with the venison in his hand. "You can eat some of this too if you want. There's plenty for two."

"Thank you, but I'm... not hungry."

"Suit yourself."

The stranger took a few more bites of his food before going on to explain.

"A group of wizards was trying to kill me. Ran into them when I was practicing turning into a human, and they thought trapping me as a human would make it easier. Don't know how they managed to make it work. They must have had some crazy magic amplification technology in order to actually cast a spell on me that lasts this long. My magic generally burns away other magic in no time." He smirked. "Whatever the case, they were wrong. Wonder what they thought the whole point of training Dragon Slayers was. They're lucky I decided to be merciful. Those dumb bastards couldn't tell the difference between a good dragon and a bad one."

"I assume that means you consider yourself one of the good ones."

"Well, yeah. They're still alive, right? At least I think they are. I was a bit angry, so I didn't really check. But if I'd been one of the bad ones, I'd have finished them off even though they were just stupid and not evil. Hell, I could have just eaten them at the start and saved myself the trouble. They would have made a decent meal."

"I see."

Zeref glanced back at the deer's remains. This young man certainly had a Dragon Slayer's appetite. The dark-haired wizard had never seen food disappear so fast.

"Well? What happened earlier? Why were those knights after you?"

"It's because of my curse."

"That's not really an explanation."

No, Zeref supposed that it wasn't. Still, he'd never had to explain this to anyone before. Nobody had ever hung around to ask.

"It's my magic," he said finally. "I have a magic that takes the lives of everything around me—people, trees, other animals—anything that comes too close to me."

The corners of Zeref's mouth tugged downward, and he looked down at his hands resting in his lap. "This magic, I can't control it. I can't blame them for being afraid."

Natsu was relatively young for a dragon, but he still had more than a century's worth of experiences. Despite that, he had to admit that it was startling to see the grass close to the wizard simply wither away. So that was what had happened to those odd patches of dead vegetation he'd seen while traversing these woods.

Now he could understand why those knights had been so afraid.

Still, the boy just looked so miserable. Even though all this death wasn't intentional, he obviously felt an immense amount of guilt because of it. Natsu wondered how much pain the wizard had to be in to face his own death with such indifference.

Huh, he and this strange wizard might actually be about the same age.

Natsu polished off the last scraps of deer meat and stood up.

"Tell you what, I'm actually searching for this wizard that I've heard is the absolute authority on breaking curses. Why don't you come with me? Maybe she'll be able to help both of us."

The boy's brow furrowed.

"I've never heard of such a wizard."

"That's because she's a bit of a recluse and mostly keeps to herself. My dad told me about her, but unfortunately, he only had a general idea of where she might be right now. She's not big on talking with dragons."

If Natsu hadn't been watching him so closely, he might have missed the flicker of emotion that passed through the boy's dark eyes. That sure looked a lot like hope to Natsu, and he felt rather pleased by the sight of it.

Still, the wizard hesitated. "Are you sure that would be all right? It's not safe to travel with me."

"If you're talking about those knights, I can handle them no problem."

The boy shook his head. "I know that. I was talking about my magic."

"Oh, that." This time, Natsu grinned. "I wouldn't worry about that. We dragons are very resistant to magic. You said so yourself, and Fire Dragons like me are especially so. I might not have met anyone like you before, but I've heard of curses like yours. I'm quite sure that I'll be fine."

And the boy would just have to trust him on that because that had definitely been hope in those eyes and Natsu wasn't going to just let him go back to wallowing in despair. Traveling was more fun with a companion anyway, and Natsu hadn't met anyone this interesting in awhile.

"Right then." Natsu picked up the bloody deer hide and set about scraping the insides clean of residual fat and flesh. "We'll just take this with us and sell it to a tanner in the next town. I haven't really needed money, but you never know. And human restaurants can make some awesome dishes."

"For a dragon, you seem to know a lot about humans."

"Yeah." Natsu didn't pause in his work, but a slight frown made it onto his face. "Dad thinks it's important to understand humans. He says that the time of dragons is coming to an end, whatever that means, and that we need to rethink how we live if we want to coexist in peace."

He shook his head and glanced back over at his new traveling companion.

"Anyway, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name's Natsu. What about you?"

The boy took a long moment to answer, and when he did, it was in the uncertain voice of someone who still couldn't quite wrap his mind around what was happening.

"Zeref. My name is Zeref."

Around them, the woods were silent. Most of the wildlife had fled, and those that hadn't were tucked safely away, hidden in their respective dens and burrows. Only the trees bore witness to this peculiar chance encounter, and of course, they weren't going to tell a soul.


	2. A Chance for Understanding

It was the middle of spring, and the morning dawned bright and cold. Natsu watched his companion sleep from his own spot under a different tree. For the most part, the dragon had been sleeping only when he grew tired. When he didn't have to fight or hunt, he sometimes went days without stopping. It hadn't occurred to him right away that humans might need more rest. He hadn't realized how tired his traveling companion was until he'd caught the boy stifling a yawn, at which point Natsu had demanded to know why Zeref hadn't told him that he needed to sleep. The boy had given him that faintly puzzled look that was quickly becoming familiar and said that it was because Natsu hadn't seemed like he wanted to stop.

Unbelievable.

Even asleep, Zeref looked exhausted. Exhausted and unhappy. Natsu knew that depression could do that to a person. He'd seen plenty of despair while roaming the countryside with his father. It was one of the things Igneal said that Natsu agreed with. There was too much despair in the world they currently lived in, and something had to change if they wanted the world to improve. Natsu just didn't see what that had to do with not living as dragons anymore.

Zeref... When he'd heard the name, Natsu had thought that it sounded familiar, but it had still taken him awhile to remember why that was. There was quite a famous human wizard by that name. Supposedly, he'd been a genius at magic and done a great deal of research into the mechanics of life and death only to disappear shortly after the death of numerous teachers and students at his school. If this Zeref and that one were one and the same, then Natsu now knew what had most likely happened to those people.

There were so many rumors about the wizard—what he had done and what he was like. Natsu wondered how much of it was true and how much was just fear and hate talking. They'd only been traveling together for three days, and Natsu could already be a hundred percent sure that the boy was about as far from the dragon's definition of "evil" as it was possible to be. Other than that though, Zeref was a mystery.

Still, they had plenty of time to get to know one another, and Igneal would probably want to know the details when Natsu saw him again. His father liked to keep tabs on powerful wizards.

Maybe Natsu would learn what it was about humans that his father thought was so remarkable.

Over by the other tree, Zeref stirred. Dark eyes blinked open and glanced anxiously about while his mind caught up with where he was. Finally, his gaze settled on Natsu. He tensed for a second and then relaxed.

"It... wasn't a dream," he said. "We really are looking for someone who might be good at undoing curses?"

Natsu's lips twitched at how uncertain he sounded, like he couldn't quite let himself believe yet that such a thing could really happen.

"Sounds about right to me. You ready to go?"

Zeref looked at him for another long moment and then nodded slowly. "Could you... tell me more about where we are going?"

"Sure. I'll tell you all about it while we walk. There are a couple of people headed this way. I don't think they're looking for us, but I'd like to be gone before they get here."

Less than a hundred years had passed since the Dragon Civil War, which had devastated the landscape and left much of Fiore in ruins. People were finally beginning to rebuild their towns and villages, and picking up the pieces of their lives that the intense conflict had shattered. Unfortunately, there was still a long way to go before this kingdom was a remotely peaceful place to live. In the mean time, banditry abounded, and rogue wizards could be found everywhere, using their magic in selfish ways in order to gain some sort of standing in this relatively lawless land. People called it a kingdom because it had a king, but the king didn't do very much of anything and it was up to all the local governments and town leaders to strive for order.

According to Natsu, the wizard they were looking for had last been spotted by a place called Eden Lake. To get there, they would first have to cross the countryside and then follow the Glass River upstream to its source in the north.

"Why didn't your father just fly you there?" Zeref asked curiously, calculating the rather vast distance in his mind.

Natsu only shrugged. "He says I got myself into this trouble, so I have to get myself out of it. After all, I'm not a hatchling anymore."

Zeref nodded. That made sense. From what he knew of dragons, they were highly independent and mostly solitary once they were old enough to hunt for themselves. Exceptions were made for a dragon's mate or children, but well... Dragons were such large creatures and required huge amounts of food. That meant vast territories, which they protected fiercely, and a disinclination to share.

"We should probably purchase a map," Zeref said, glancing around them at the people passing on the street. "I'm not familiar with this area, and it would be helpful to know where all the settlements currently are."

So they could avoid them when possible.

They had arrived in this particular town shortly after noon and started with a stop at the local tanner's to sell all the animal skins Natsu had collected on their way through the woods. Natsu wasn't entirely clear on what was considered a fair price, so Zeref had handled the bargaining. They left the tannery with half a pouch of silver coins and two leather travel bags, which they didn't really need but might turn out to be quite useful in the long run. Besides, it was strange for travelers to carry no bags, and in these times, even such little things could make people suspicious. Natsu had the bag he'd taken from the wizards who had tried to kill him, but it was battered and slightly burned, so a replacement was probably a good idea.

"A map, huh?" Natsu considered this. "Sure, why not? As long as you know how to read one."

"You've never used a map before?"

"Nope, never needed one. Dragons don't really draw maps. And anyway, you can see a lot when you're flying."

"I hadn't thought of that," Zeref murmured. "Well, maps are fairly straightforward. I imagine it should make a lot of sense to someone who is used to seeing things from the air. I'll show you how to read one when we have one."

He hesitated then added, "Could you... ask someone where we can find a cartographer?"

"A what?"

"A cartographer. That's the official term for a mapmaker."

Natsu raised his eyebrows. "You sure you don't want to ask yourself? Seeing as you're the one who actually knows what we're looking for?"

The wizard dropped his gaze. "I... don't like to talk to people. I don't want them to remember me."

Natsu's expression softened. Okay, he could understand that. He didn't think it was a healthy way to think, but there were those knights to consider, not to mention all the feuding wizard guilds who would doubtless love to get their hands on someone like Zeref.

"Fine. Wait here."

Natsu stopped a girl pushing an apple cart, bought two apples from her, and spoke with her briefly. When he returned, he handed one apple to Zeref and bit into the other one himself.

"She says they don't have one, but that if we want maps, we should be able to buy them in that curio shop down the street."

"A curio shop?" Zeref repeated, brow furrowed. "I'm not sure how reliable maps from a curio shop would be."

"It's our only option though," Natsu pointed out. "So we might as well go take a look."

The shop in question was a small, cluttered place crammed with wooden shelves. All sorts of maps and drawings paper the walls, and the air was thick with the smell of old parchment and ink.

The stoop-shouldered old man behind the counter peered up at them when they entered, lifting a finger to push his spectacles up his nose.

"Welcome, welcome," he said, beaming. "What can I help you with today?"

""We were hoping to buy a map," Zeref said cautiously.

Thankfully, they were the only customers in the store.

The shopkeeper brightened further. "A treasure map? I have several very fine treasure maps—almost guaranteed to be authentic."

"Um, no, just a regular map—of the region along the Glass River."

"Oh." The man looked disappointed, but he quickly recollected himself. "I should have a regular map around here somewhere. Please wait a moment."

The man rose creakily from his stool and began rummaging around behind the counter. While he searched, he spoke.

"So you're headed to the Glass River, are you? You'll want to be careful if you're going that way."

"Why? Did something happen?" Natsu asked.

"Mostly just the usual," the shopkeeper replied with a sigh. "Bandits and the like. I heard there's a group of bandits in the area that have gotten themselves a wizard or two to help them. Wreaking havoc on the roads and causing no end of trouble for the locals."

He dropped his voice and added, "I also heard that there's been a dragon attack."

Natsu's gaze sharpened. "Really? Where'd it happen?"

"A village along the river supposedly. You might see it if you're headed that way. If you do, I advise you steer clear. You don't want to be a dragon's next meal." The old man straightened abruptly, beaming once more. "Ah, here it is. Take a look. Is this what you were looking for?"

It was. Zeref paid the shopkeeper and they stepped back out into the street. After the hushed quiet within the shop, the town seemed even noisier than before. Zeref hunched his shoulders and tugged the folds of his robes closer about himself. With all these people around, he was starting to feel extremely uncomfortable. The shopkeeper's words didn't help either.

"Can we go now?" he asked quietly.

Natsu stopped eyeing the restaurant across the street and asked, "You don't want lunch? You've hardly eaten anything since we met, and that was three days ago. Whatever that place is selling, it smells really good."

Zeref lowered his head further. "I really need to get out of here. I'm sorry."

He didn't want to be a burden on his traveling companion.

Natsu let out a huff of irritation, although it wasn't because it looked like he wouldn't be able to eat at that restaurant after all.

"If you have to leave, then we'll leave. It's not like you don't have a good reason. Stop apologizing for things you can't help."

"I'm so—"

"What did I just say?"

"...To stop apologizing for things I can't help."

Natsu patted him on the shoulder, ignoring the way Zeref flinched at the touch.

"Good. Now let's get going before I decide I'm willing to risk accidentally killing a few people to get a good lunch."

"You could order a few things and take them with us."

"Good idea. Let's do that."

And they could pick up some cooking equipment too while they were at it, just in case they got tired of eating barbeque.

They left the town almost immediately after that and didn't stop again until the buildings were long out of sight. They left the main road, found a comfortable spot under the boughs of a giant oak tree, and settled down to eat the food Natsu had bought. Or rather, Natsu did most of the eating while Zeref picked at the food, trying only a bite here and there.

"Do you not like it or something?" Natsu asked, frowning at him over a leg of roast chicken. "I can order something else next time if you tell me what you prefer."

Zeref shook his head. "I just don't eat very much. I don't actually have to eat to stay alive, so I suppose I've sort of gotten out of the habit of eating regular meals."

"The habit of eating?" Natsu repeated, incredulous. "Seriously, eating isn't a habit, it's a part of life! Just because it won't kill you doesn't mean you should starve yourself."

"I'm not starving myself. I just—eat enough not to starve. Starving can be... very uncomfortable."

"No kidding," Natsu said dryly. He shook his head. "You can be really strange, you know that? "If we're going to travel together, you're going to have to talk to me more. I'm not a mind reader, and things will be easier if we can at least understand one another."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. Tell me where you're from. We can trade stories."

Zeref hesitated, glancing from Natsu's face to the grassy field around them.

"The place I'm from doesn't exist anymore. My hometown was destroyed by a dragon more than a century ago. I was the only survivor."

"Oh." Natsu wasn't sure what to say to that. It was... unexpected. "But you don't dislike dragons."

"No, I don't. Like you said before, there are good dragons and bad ones, just like there are good and bad humans. I realize that." Zeref let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, could we talk about something else?"

Natsu could sense the shift in the air that signified the stirring of Zeref's dark magic, and so he refrained from chiding him about the apologies again. Instead, he told Zeref about learning to use his magic for the first time.

"I almost burned a whole forest down," he admitted ruefully. "And Dad and I ended up spending most of the day working to stop the flames from devouring everything. Then we ate the biggest meal I've ever had, because we didn't want to waste the animals that I'd accidentally roasted. My next lesson after that was in how to make a tasty barbeque. Dad said if I was going to make us eat all that burnt meat, I might as well barbeque it well."

Zeref opened his eyes, and Natsu grinned at the glimmer of amusement that he caught in them.

"I suppose it would be inconvenient, not to be able to put out the fires that you set."

"Yeah, you could say that." Natsu shrugged. "It just means we've got to be careful sometimes. What about you? You must have started learning magic at some point. No one's born knowing how to cast spells."

Zeref hesitated, perhaps carefully picking up the memories and checking if they would cause his curse to react. Then he said, "Magic has always made a lot of sense to me. It's hard to remember a time when I didn't know how to cast spells, but I suppose... so much of that time is tied up with things I want to forget."

Natsu nodded. "So you are that Zeref, aren't you? The one there are all those rumors about."

He caught the anxiety on Zeref's face and added, "Don't worry, I never did put much store in rumors. I won't judge you on the basis of some stories no one even knows are true. I can make up my own mind, thanks. Besides, you don't seem like a bad person to me—wait, are you crying? Oh no, what did I say? Uh, please don't cry. I hate it when people cry."

Zeref shook his head and wiped away the tears with the loose sleeve of his robes. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm crying."

He blinked a few times to clear his eyes then offered Natsu a small smile. It was a rather weak smile as far as smiles went, but it was the first smile Natsu had seen on his face.

"Thank you."

Natsu could have asked him "what for?", but he didn't have to. Maybe Zeref wasn't sure why he was crying, but looking at that smile, Natsu thought he did. Thank you for giving me a chance, that smile said. Thank you for staying.

Natsu had the feeling he was going to remember that smile for a very long time.

They finished the rest of their meal in companionable silence, then Zeref took out the map they had purchased and showed Natsu how it matched up with the actual landscape. For someone accustomed to a bird's eye view of the world, learning to read the map really was quite simple. It looked like there were several possible routes they could take, but only one that wouldn't involve passing through at least one major human settlement. When they continued on their way, it was amidst a much lighter atmosphere.


	3. Bandit Attack

Zeref woke from muddled dreams of the past to find Natsu finishing off the previous night's leftover roast boar and observing him from atop one of the boulders they had made camp beside. The grass immediately around the wizard was dead, but thankfully, it didn't look like any animals had come close enough to be effected. Well, that, or Natsu had eaten them already and disposed of their remains. Zeref suspected that it wouldn't have been the first time, and it was... kind of endearing how Natsu seemed to think it would make him feel less guilty.

"You want breakfast?" Natsu asked when he was sure Zeref was fully awake. The dark-haired wizard tended to react poorly to being startled.

"No, I'm okay. Thank you."

The dragon didn't press the issue, for which Zeref was grateful. Almost two weeks on the road together, and they were finally starting to get used to one another's habits. Natsu didn't insist that Zeref eat on the understanding that the wizard was not, in fact, starving himself. Zeref didn't comment on how often Natsu hunted on the understanding that the dragon turned human would, in fact, eat everything he brought down. Zeref knew that he should speak up if he was tired, and Natsu kept his distance when he sensed Zeref's Death Magic acting up—mostly for the wizard's peace of mind. Zeref didn't want to know until they absolutely had to whether or not Natsu was right about being immune.

They also talked a lot more freely than they had at the beginning. Natsu's suggestion of trading stories had settled into a sort of routine, and the more they conversed, the easier it became.

Zeref hadn't realized before just how much he had been longing for someone to talk to.

"We should be close to the next town," Natsu said, jumping down to land beside him. "If you feel up to it, I thought we could drop by to replenish our food supplies. Maybe get some bread or something. If not, it's going to be barbeque only from now on."

Did he feel up to it? Zeref was surprised to discover that yes, he did. Besides, fresh bread actually sounded pretty good, which was unusual since he so seldom had any appetite these days.

Unfortunately, their plans were interrupted just as the outskirts of the town came into view.

"I smell blood," Natsu said, grabbing the back of Zeref's robes to stop him from continuing forward. He scanned the area through narrowed eyes, nostrils flaring. "A lot of people are hurt. Badly. And something's burning."

Zeref could see the smoke now, a dark column rising towards the clouds from the other side of the town.

"I don't hear fighting though," Natsu muttered. "Whatever happened is probably over."

He was right.

When they finally crossed the boundaries of the settlement, they were met by streets strewn with debris. Broken glass glittered amidst splintered timbers, and here and there, the dirt was stained red with new blood. The townsfolk they saw were picking through the wreckage, salvaging what was still usable and trying to clean up the mess. The disheveled men and women cast the newcomers haunted, wary looks, but when neither stranger made any threatening gestures, they were ignored.

The smoke was coming from a number of houses on the far side of the town. The fires had mostly burned down already, leaving the blackened skeletons of what had once been people's homes. The former members of a bucket chain from two nearby wells sat and stood about, their clothes streaked with sweat and soot.

"Who are you?" one of the men demanded, leaping to his feet and seizing a rake from the ground beside him. The soot smudges on his face made his scowl that much darker, and it looked like the house fires had burned his eyebrows right off.

"Hey, no need for that," Natsu said, stepping between the man and Zeref just in case. "We were just passing by and thought we'd buy some provisions."

"Well, you're out of luck there," the man with no eyebrows said, lowering the rake a fraction. "As you can see, we haven't got anything left to sell. I don't even know if we have enough to feed ourselves. At least it's spring instead of winter."

He grimaced and turned his head to spit in the dirt. "The bandits took almost everything worth taking. It's the second raid this month, damn them. We're just lucky we had enough warning to get everyone who couldn't fight to safety."

Sure enough, other people were gradually emerging from the nearby woods and trickling back into the town—women, children, the elderly, and the sick. All of them were gaunt and grim-faced, but the set of their jaws and shoulders spoke of determination. It was the determination to keep on living, to pick up the pieces of their lives and keep rebuilding despite what they had lost.

Zeref often wondered where that determination came from and how people managed to keep hold of it. Just looking at all this destruction was making his insides twist with anguish that he was struggling not to feel. These people didn't need to deal with his rampant magic in addition to everything else they'd already suffered.

"You said this is the second attack in a month?" Natsu asked, frowning.

"That's right. Them bastards are getting way too bold. It's all because they've got those wizards helping them now. Almost drowned poor Danny, and threatened to block off our wells. We'd hire a guild to help us, but we can't afford the rates they're asking."

"What about the knights?"

"You mean those Rune Knights that work for that wizard council they've just thrown together? They keep telling us they'll send someone, but we haven't seen any of them yet." His lips twisted with disgust, but his blue eyes blazed with defiance. "Guess we're not important enough."

Instead, the knights were wasting all their time and energy chasing Zeref down. The dark-haired wizard was not amused. Unfortunately, neither was he surprised. Perhaps time and experience had made him too cynical.

"Tell us about these bandits," Natsu said. "Maybe we can help."

The man glowered at them suspiciously. "Why would you do that? We can't pay you."

"Call it practice." Natsu grinned wickedly. "We've got some experience with magic ourselves, and if we get rid of their wizards, you'll have an easier time, right? Besides, I like fighting."

The man looked like he thought Natsu might be a bit insane, but answered anyway. If this madman wanted to fight the rogue wizards for them, who was he to argue?

Zeref waited until they had left the town before asking, "Is it really okay for us to intervene?"

"Put it this way," Natsu said, "could you forgive yourself for just walking away? It's not like we haven't got the power."

"If I get involved," Zeref said slowly, "someone might die."

Natsu considered this. "I can't say I don't think they deserve it from what we just saw, but I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen—if that's important to you. I can do all the actual fighting. You won't even have to get close. Besides, I'm not really supposed to kill humans myself unless I have a really good reason, like if they were murderers or something. It doesn't help with Dad's coexistence agenda."

"Your father sounds very unusual. I've never met a dragon who had so many views on humans."

"His name's Igneal. You might have heard of him."

Zeref had, indeed, heard of him. Natsu's father wasn't just any dragon. He was the Fire Dragon King. That... explained a lot. From what Zeref remembered, Igneal had essentially led the dragons who had fought on humanity's side during the Dragon Civil War.

"I suppose you're right. We shouldn't have too much trouble capturing two rogue wizards."

"That's right." Natsu smirked, and Zeref thought the gleam in the dragon's eyes looked rather a lot like bloodlust. "All we have to do is incapacitate them and then deliver them to the nearest guard post for the knights to pick up. Those knights aren't good for much right now in my opinion, but at least they do help with arresting rogue wizards."

Zeref nodded. He had to admit that the knights were good for that at least. The main problem was that the new wizard council was still too weak to be very effective in governing the uses of magic.

"So, you up for it?" Natsu asked, studying his expression intently.

Zeref hesitated, but eventually replied, "Yes."

The bandits had set up their headquarters deep in the woods where a stream fed into a shallow pool. According to the man with no eyebrows, both the stream and pool were artificial, created recently with spell work, which explained the lack of any water plants or fish. The band of thieves had built shelters up in the branches of the trees, and the two travelers could spot a handful of lookouts perched amidst the dense foliage.

The two of them hadn't even made their move yet, and Natsu was already grinning madly with anticipation.

The wizards chose a spot along the stream where they had an excellent view of the entire hideout, then Natsu took a deep breath and blasted the water with a gout of flames that set the water to boiling at once and sent steam hissing into the air.

Amidst the ensuing shouts of alarm, Natsu stepped out from the trees and roared, "Hey, listen up, bastards! I'm here to fight your wizards. If you don't come out right now, I'll burn your entire camp to the ground!"

Zeref hung back in the shadows, observing the bandits' reactions. The lookouts who had begun to move towards them drew back at this display of power. He could see fear on their pale faces, but there was scorn and stubbornness too. These were people who had grown accustomed to getting what they wanted. The corner of Zeref's own mouth turned downward with disdain.

After a brief discussion, a man and woman jumped down from one of the tree houses. They sported matching heads of white-blond hair, and the similarity of their features suggested that they were siblings.

The blond man sneered. "You dare to challenge us? Do you realize who we are?"

"I don't really care who you are," Natsu shot back, flames erupting about his fists. "I'm going to make you regret ever deciding to join a bunch of bandits."

"A Fire Wizard, huh?"

Zeref could tell from the cockiness in the man's tone that he thought this was going to be an easy fight. Oh how wrong he was.

The man flung his arm out and water spiraled up from the still steaming stream. Behind him, his sister was busy making sweeping, upward gestures with her hands, and Zeref could feel the energy gathering beneath them. It seemed she was drawing up more water from underground.

Natsu dodged the Water Wizards' first attack, cackling, and retaliated with a wave of fire that evaporated half the pool and blackened the earth on its bank. The female half of the duo pulled a few thin streams of water up from the dirt and froze them into shards of ice, which she sent flying through the air like javelins.

The siblings were fairly skilled as far as elemental magic went, Zeref had to give them that much. But when it came to elemental magic, dragons pretty much ruled the day.

The ice javelins hit a wall of flames and immediately vaporized.

Trusting that Natsu could handle the two wizards on his own, Zeref turned his attention to the rest of the bandits. Neither he nor Natsu had expected these people to fight fair, and so they had prepared for that. Sure enough, Zeref spotted several archers positioning themselves in the trees. Before any of them could let loose with an arrow, Zeref reached out with his own magic, struggling to blank out all thoughts and emotions aside from the task at hand. He definitely didn't need to think about how easy it would be to slip up and catch the archers themselves with his magic instead of their weapons. The wooden shafts and fletching of the arrows grew brittle and then fell apart, followed shortly by the bows themselves. Feathers fell to dust, and the bow strings snapped as though long overused.

Cries of dismay, confusion, and alarm rose from within the camp as their weapons began to give way on them.

Zeref took the opportunity to scan the area for some kind of vehicle they could use. He didn't have much time. He could feel the strangling tension at the back of his throat that he associated with an imminent episode of deadly magic, and his own panicked reaction to the feeling only made things worse. The combination made it difficult to breathe, and of course, the body's natural reaction to lack of oxygen was more panic. He was relieved when he saw several wagons and carts parked some distance from the pool to his right.

Breathe, Zeref reminded himself. Then he focused on one of the smaller wagons—one just big enough to carry two people.

Only one of the bandits—a mousy little man who had run to hide at the first sign of danger rather than take up arms—saw the clawed feet that sprouted from beneath the wagon. Under his horrified gaze, those feet dug into the dirt and propelled the wagon away from the rest, around the sizzling pool, and towards the two-person invasion force. Well, the bandits had thought it was one person at first because the second one was all but hidden amidst the shadows of the trees. But the little man hiding in his tree house saw him—saw his gaze upon the archers, saw him gesture at the moving wagon, saw him raise a hand to his head as though he had a terrible headache and then retreat into the woods out of sight—and he would remember the strange boy because of a niggling sense of wrongness that accompanied the sight of him. The bandit might have been a coward at heart, but he was an observant coward, and he never forgot anything.

Natsu tended to go a little berserk during battles, but he never lost his awareness of what was happening around him. His father called it a type of battle instinct where he could keep a level head and make calculated decisions even while throwing all the force of his emotions into winning. It was the kind of sense that one needed to win not only battles but wars, and it was useful even though they were no longer in wartime.

Natsu knew when the archers made their attempt at a long distance attack, and he knew when Zeref destroyed their weapons. He sensed the spell that brought the wagon over to them, and in the back of his mind, he noted for later that he had never sensed magic quite like it before.

He knew, also, when Zeref left the battlefield and withdrew into the woods where he could be alone.

Concern for his dark-haired companion probably made Natsu hit the two enemy wizards harder than was strictly necessary. One blow to the stomach for the first wizard and then another to the other wizard's temple, and both of his opponent's were out cold. Natsu dumped their unconscious bodies in the wagon then addressed the remaining bandits.

"I'll be dropping these two off for the Rune Knights, so I doubt you'll be seeing them again anytime soon. If the rest of you don't shape up and learn to get along with the townsfolk, you can bet you'll see someone like me back here again."

Warning delivered, Natsu prodded the wagon to see if it was going to move on its own. The thing no longer had legs, but hey, you never knew with things that had been bewitched. When it failed to stir, he grabbed a hold of one side and pushed it ahead of him into the trees, following the trail of Zeref's scent.

He found the wizard sitting beneath the now leafless branches of a dead tree with his head in is hands. Dry leaves carpeted the ground around him and stuck to his hair and clothes. It was kind of a depressing sight to be honest, and it snuffed out any sense of triumph the dragon had felt at their victory. Winning small battles like that one was easy. Other battles were not so simple.

Natsu lingered at a distance, observing the area around his traveling companion, searching for any changes. When he was sure the episode of Death Magic was over, Natsu left the wagon where it was and made his way over to stand in front of him.

"I'm sorry," Natsu said. The moment felt awkward, although he couldn't have explained why. Perhaps it was that he didn't feel this sincerely apologetic very often. "Guess maybe I shouldn't have insisted that you help. We're lucky nobody got killed, aren't we? I didn't really think about how these episodes make you feel."

Zeref shook his head slowly then lifted his gaze to meet Natsu's.

"Please don't apologize. You were right." He pulled a withered leaf from his sleeve and gave it a rueful look. "I would have hated myself for walking away, but I would have walked away anyway."

"Because of the risk," Natsu pointed out.

"Yes," Zeref agreed. "Because of that. So really, I should be thanking you. I was only able to help at all today because you were there too."

"Well, as long as you're sure you're okay," Natsu said. The uncomfortable sense of guilt that had crept over him at the sight of his new friend beneath the dead tree eased. "If you're ready, I want to get these two to the guard station on the other side of these woods before they wake up. If I have to knock them out again, I might accidentally do some permanent damage."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note that this story is Natsu and Zeref centric. 
> 
> I put the other pair and characters that will be main-er later on in the tags because I personally really, really do NOT like surprises myself. However, seeing as no one else has been born yet, they won't be in the story until it reaches the present day.


	4. Unlucky

The coin gleamed when Natsu held it up to the sunlight, the golden sheen so bright it looked fake. He knew it was real though. Dragons might not use human currency, but they sure as hell knew what gold looked like.

"I always thought it was only a myth that dragons liked gold," Zeref commented, amused.

Natsu stowed the coin along with its fellows in the pack he carried.

"Hey, give me a break. It's just weird to actually be getting gold coins. Who'd have thought those dark wizards had such a huge bounty on their heads? Not sure what we're going to do with all the money." Natsu grinned as they started down the road that led away from the collection of low, stone buildings that made up the small guard post. "And for your information, it's a myth that dragons like gold, but some of us do like to collect treasures and we guard the things that are precious to us. Stealing from a dragon is not a good idea. Of course, what we consider treasure might not be what most humans think of when they talk about treasure."

"Generally not gold and gemstones then?"

"Sometimes gold and gemstones," Natsu conceded. "But usually, no. For instance, there's this dragon—one of Dad's friends—living farther south that's crazy about his tea plants. He, uh, doesn't like me very much. Says I'm too much of a natural hazard."

Ah, there was that faint smile again. Natsu saw it out of the corner of his eye before the wizard turned away to look back at the road. It was a pleasant change from the weary melancholy that was Zeref's customary expression. Natsu quite liked that smile, and in truth, he also liked the fact that he was the one who had inspired it.

Behind them, the woods were a bristling strip of green along the horizon. Natsu knew his companion felt slightly uneasy about leaving the shelter of those trees, but personally, Natsu thought it was good that they were back out in open country. All those patches of dead vegetation made Zeref far too easy to track.

Natsu wondered if there was some way for them to manage Zeref's curse a little better. Aside from all the damage it caused, it was just plain inconvenient and tended to facilitate bouts of deep depression on Zeref's part. And actually, being depressed only seemed to worsen the symptoms. Natsu wasn't sure if the wizard had noticed that. Even if he had though, it wasn't like it was such an easy thing to remedy—at least not when one was alone. Loneliness was a close companion of depression.

"This road should lead us straight to the river, right?" Natsu asked, looking across the grassy hills that had replaced their previous view of dense forest and underbrush. The packed dirt path ran ahead of them, winding through the hills like a pale brown serpent.

"If this map is accurate," Zeref replied. He removed the map from his own pack and unfolded it, skimming its contents one more time. "There shouldn't be any more settlements before we reach a river town by the name of Crinko. From there, it should be easy to follow the river upstream. There are a great many roads and towns along the way though, since it's a good source of fresh water. I believe a lot of merchants and traders also use the river to transport their goods."

The dragon wizard nodded. "I remember seeing those boats when I flew by, but we'll worry about all that when we get there."

Then there was that report of a dragon attack that he should probably look into.

Zeref refolded the map with a sigh. "I envy how you can do that?"

"Do what?"

"Only worry about something when it happens."

"I've never been the long-term planning sort, but you know, it's also something you have to practice. You have to believe that everything will turn out the way you want so that you'll fight for it and think of ways to make it happen."

"That's easier said than done. So many things could go wrong."

"Yeah? Like what?"

Zeref thought for a moment. "Well, the knights you chased off could find us. The dark wizards you turned in to the guards could escape and come looking for us, which would be troublesome. People often hold grudges, and dark wizards can be unpleasantly persistent. We could get caught up in another conflict. My magic could go out of control when we reach the next settlement and kill everyone. Some other group of wizards could try to capture me to make me do something for them. It has happened before. The curse breaker we are looking for might not really exist, or even if she does, perhaps she has already passed away. Dragons are not good at keeping track of short, human lives, and it is not a safe time for anyone. She might not have the right expertise to help us. Perhaps you will tire of traveling with me, and then I'll be on my own again..."

He trailed off and they continued on in silence for a long minute while Natsu thought all of this over.

"Wow, you can be really negative," the dragon said at last. "What kind of journey are you expecting us to have? Seriously, I—"

He was interrupted by the distant sound of hooves followed by a horse's scream and a man's cry of pain.

Zeref gave him a look like "I told you so" and they hurried forward.

They rounded a steep hill and almost ran into the person sprawled half on and half off the road in a growing puddle of his own blood. The man's horse was a rapidly disappearing speck of gray in the distance, having thrown off its rider in its terror. The stench of copper and decay was so strong that even Zeref could smell it, and he lifted his sleeve to cover his nose.

Natsu swore and crouched to examine the stranger's wounds more closely. He needed a healer immediately or else he was probably going to die. He'd lost far too much blood, and Natsu could smell poison—something bitter and corrosive.

"What happened?" he asked aloud, not actually expecting an answer.

The man turned dimming eyes towards them and opened his mouth. When he spoke, his voice was dry and cracked.

"The guard post..."

"You almost reached it," Natsu told him. "I can bring them a message for you, and I'm sure they had a healer there so don't go dying on us just yet."

"A monster... Aulia..." The man broke off into a coughing fit.

Natsu stood up and turned to his traveling companion.

"I'll be right back—unless you'd rather go back to the guard station while I stay here?"

Zeref shook his head. "I'll stay. There's something strange about his injuries. I'd like to take a look at them."

After Natsu had gone, Zeref knelt down, careful to avoid the red seeping across the dirt, and ran a hand gingerly along the man's left side. His tunic was torn there along his ribs and abdomen, and the fabric was sticky with blood. The feel of it made Zeref want to draw back, but he could sense something about the wound—something prickly and malicious that tugged at his magical senses.

Zeref was thankful that the man had already lost consciousness, or else this would have felt rather awkward. Carefully, he separated the fabric from the skin and peeled it back. There was definitely something long and thin lodged in the gash. When Zeref's fingers brushed it, a shock ran up his arm and he jerked his hand back. The man groaned.

Looked like he had better wait for the healer. Still, even that brief contact had been enough for him to tell that, however unlikely it seemed, the thing cutting into the man's flesh was a slip of paper.

Natsu returned less than half an hour later with half a dozen guards and a horse-drawn cart. One of the guards had the star-shaped emblem of a healer stitched on the shoulder of her green surcoat. She leapt from the cart even before it had rolled to a complete stop and knelt on the injured man's other side.

"There's a piece of paper in his side," Zeref told her as she set about examining her patient. "There's magic in it, something poisonous I think."

The woman worried at her lower lip, pressing her fingers gently along the cut. She was wearing a pair of thin, green gloves, their backs covered with rows of tiny runes.

"I think you're right. I'm going to have to remove it before we can staunch the bleeding and get him back to the guard post for further treatment."

That said, she pinched the two visible corners of the paper between the thumb and forefinger of each hand, gritted her teeth, and pulled. Slowly, the blood-soaked strip slid free until she held a rectangular piece of paper roughly twice the size of her palm. The markings upon it glowed a fierce orange even through the blood.

"Good thing it didn't tear," she muttered, holding the paper up as far away from her body as she could. "The spell on it must have made it stronger. We need something safe to put it in for now until we can find someone to destroy it properly. It's a nasty piece of work, and I don't think anyone but me should touch it. My gloves are enchanted to ward off contamination from artifacts like these."

"If you just drop it on the ground out of the way, I can destroy it," Natsu said. "Better put it in the center of the road so all the grass around here doesn't go up in smoke."

She blinked up at him, startled. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah it's no problem."

The healer hesitated but did as he asked, gently laying the strip of paper several paces away in the middle of the road. When Natsu judged that she had retreated far enough back, he sent a carefully controlled jet of fire towards it. The paper caught fire almost at once, and within seconds, there was nothing left of it but a scorch mark upon the earth.

The healer let out the breath she had been holding in a rush. "That's amazing. There's no trace of magic left at all."

Natsu only shrugged. "You can think of it as a unique property of advanced Fire Dragon Slayer Magic."

Behind them, the other guards busied themselves tying a temporary bandage around the man's middle and then lifting him into the cart, which they had padded with straw.

Zeref moved over to stand next to Natsu, and the healer turned to face them both.

"I'm sorry, I know you probably have somewhere to be, but it would help us a lot if you could come with us back to the station and tell us exactly what happened," she said. She liffted her arm to push a stray lock of chestnut hair from her eyes, not wanting to use her blood-stained gloves. "It shouldn't take too long, but we have to get this man to the station as quickly as possible."

Natsu hesitated and glanced at Zeref.

The shorter wizard sighed. "We understand."

"Thank you." The healer smiled, relieved, and got up into the cart with her patient. The guard leading the horses started them walking, and the whole group proceeded back the way it had come with the two wizards following several paces behind.

"All right," Natsu said when the guards were a good distance ahead of them, "so maybe you might be a little unlucky. I met one dark wizard in the three weeks I was traveling before I met you. And now, we're on what's probably dark wizard number three in as many days."

Zeref lowered his head, but Natsu wasn't finished yet.

"But I was thinking about what you said, and here's what I think."

He glanced to his side to make sure Zeref was listening before he continued.

"The knights probably will catch up with us again, that's true. But since we know it's going to happen, we can plan for it—unless what you're hoping for is that they'll manage to off you and you're worried about them not succeeding. If that's the case, I'm going to hit you, so it better not be the case. If the curse breaker really does turn out not to be able to help us, we'll just find another way. There's always another way if you look hard enough. Hell, dragon fire has really strong anti-magic properties and you know a lot about magic. Between the two of us, maybe we could figure out a way to break these curses ourselves. As for everything else, I'm getting good at telling when your magic's going to act up. That should help decrease the number of casualties, and the fewer casualties there are, the less reason people will have to notice you."

Natsu paused to let this sink in then added, "And I won't just leave you on your own, all right? That's a promise, and I always keep my promises."

They were simple words, but they brought a tightness to Zeref's throat that was different from the warning signs for his magic. He lifted his gaze to find Natsu watching him, and he discovered that he couldn't look away even though part of him found it incredibly difficult to meet the dragon's intense stare.

"You don't have to keep that promise," Zeref said finally, although he dreaded the thought of being alone again. "We still don't know each other all that well. You might change your mind."

Natsu shook his head and slung an arm around his shoulders, ignoring the wizard's attempt to shy away. "I know you better than you think. Besides, I trust my instincts, and my instincts tell me that there's something special about you that I might want to hold on to."

It was not the first time someone had thought Zeref was "special". Generally speaking, the people who thought he was special were people he never wanted to see again. He'd often wondered why anyone would actually want to be special. But when Natsu said it, it felt different. At the very least, he had learned enough of the dragon to know that he wasn't referring to Zeref's ability to kill vast numbers of people by just thinking about it. Nor did the dragon appear to care about what unusual magic he could perform, although he had asked about some of it with great curiosity. And if it wasn't for any of those reasons... maybe being special to someone wasn't all that bad.


	5. A Village Secret

"He's going to be out for awhile," the healer announced, shutting the door of the makeshift infirmary behind her and wiping the sweat from her brow. "Magical poisons are tough to recover from, even with the help of healing spells. He's lucky I studied poisons so extensively."

She offered the two wizards seated at the room's single, wooden table a weary smile and added, "Thanks for waiting. My name's Amika, and as you can see, I'm a healer. I'm also the only wizard working at this guard post at the moment. We're supposed to be getting another recruit with some skill in combat magic, but he's still in training for another month or so."

Before either wizard could respond, the sitting room's other door opened and another guard walked in, removing his helmet as he went and running a hand through his short, red hair.

"We caught his horse," he said, dropping into one of the unoccupied chairs. "The poor creature's still frantic. Damn near ran itself lame. We gave it some of that sleep powder you put together for us." He nodded at their guests. "You can call me Daniel. I've been assigned to work with Amika on this," he waved vaguely, "whatever it is. Did that man say anything when you found him?"

Natsu was the one who answered. "Yeah. He mentioned this guard post, and then he said something about a monster called Aulia."

Amika's brow furrowed. "Aulia?"

"That's what it sounded like."

"I don't know about any monsters," the other guard said slowly, "but there's a farming village not too far from here called Aulia."

"I thought there weren't any villages or towns between here and the Glass River," Zeref said, frowning. "Is our map out of date?"

"Not necessarily. It's a pretty small village, so mapmakers often just don't bother to include it. If you let me see your map, I can show you where it is."

Zeref unfolded the map upon the table, and Daniel leaned forward.

"Hmmm, as I thought. This map's more or less correct, but it's missing some of the smaller settlements in this area. See here?" He pointed at a spot amidst the hills. "This is where Aulia should be."

"If Aulia's not the name of a monster," Natsu said, "I guess that means he was trying to tell us that there's a monster there right now."

The four of them fell silent. "Monster" could mean a lot of things.

"He came all this way to ask for help despite how badly he was hurt," Amika murmured, chewing her lip. "We'll have to go see, but—oh, I wish we had more help! I'm just not good at combat magic, but there's definitely magic involved and that has to mean a wizard. If we knew what to expect, we could prepare, but with so little information..."

She stopped and looked at the other two wizards present.

"Could you maybe come with us? I know it's out of your way, but we could pay you for your trouble. We'd really appreciate the help."

Zeref glanced at Natsu, who looked back with a slightly raised eyebrow. The dark-haired wizard had the feeling that the dragon was waiting to see if Zeref felt okay to go. Yes, Natsu liked fighting and didn't mind helping when asked, but the incident with the bandits had reminded him that for Zeref, the matter wasn't as straightforward.

Perhaps Natsu had been right and they knew each other better than Zeref had thought.

So then... was he okay with going? In his mind, Zeref saw the bloodstains left upon the road and felt the shock of malice when his fingers touched the piece of paper that had very nearly cost the man in the next room his life.

Zeref closed his eyes for a moment, evaluating his own state of mind, then opened them again and looked at the two guards.

"All right, we will help you."

.

Upon first glance, there didn't seem to be anything amiss about the village. A few of the farmers working out in the fields waved and called out greetings as they passed, and a child who had been pulling weeds darted ahead of them to tell the villagers of their arrival. There was no smoke, no sign of damage to the houses—and the people were even smiling.

It was hard to reconcile the sheer normalcy of the picture with the injured man bleeding out on the side of the road.

Natsu didn't like it. It felt wrong, and as he had told Zeref, he trusted his instincts. Something wasn't right in this village, and if he didn't smell blood yet, it just meant that they had to look a little harder. He was sure that Zeref felt it too. The dark-haired wizard had moved to walk closer to Natsu and was surveying the buildings around them with a slight frown.

An old man who identified himself as one of the village elders met them when they reached the main village square.

"What brings you to our humble home?" he asked, nodding respectfully to the two guards.

Daniel and Amika exchanged bewildered looks.

"A man came to us earlier today to ask for help," Amika said at last. "We thought he came to us from this village."

"I'm sorry?" The old man cocked his head and clasped his wrinkled hands behind his back. "You must be mistaken. I don't believe anyone has left the village today. There is far too much work to be done at the moment."

He's lying, Natsu thought. It wasn't anything obvious, but the dragon had always been able to tell when a person's expression was insincere. It came from a certain mismatched quality or discord in what he sensed that he found incredibly irritating.

"I suppose we could have made a mistake," Daniel said, "but you have to understand, we need to be sure about these things. When a man nearly dies on our doorstep, it's our job to follow up on it."

"It was that serious?"

"It was," Daniel confirmed. "Fortunately for him, Amika was able to save him. But he mentioned this place to us, and so we really can't just leave. If we could just have a quick look around to see if we can find any clues as to whether he was here?"

The elder hesitated, but he seemed to realize that it would be strange to refuse.

"Of course," he replied at last, his long, white beard swaying when he nodded. "Please take your time. I'll send Jema with you—in case you need anything."

He beckoned to one of the children who had been playing games on the other side of the plaza. She ran over to them, lost one slipper, paused to toe it back on, and then continued.

"What is it, Grandfather?"

"Jema, these people would like to look around our village. Will you please accompany them and show them around?"

The girl nodded, her round face turned towards the strangers with obvious curiosity.

Natsu watched the old man depart through narrowed eyes, not looking away until he'd seen the white-haired figure disappear into the largest building among those that lined the plaza.

"He's definitely hiding something," he said quietly so that only Zeref could hear.

The wizard nodded. "I'm... a little concerned for the man back at the guard station. I think it may have been unwise to reveal that he survived."

"You think whoever attacked him in the first place will try to finish him off?"

"Maybe. It would be the smart thing to do."

Natsu grunted at that. Smart thing or not, it just made whoever was behind all this more of a bastard.

The two wizards hung back while Jema led Amika and Daniel through the village. The girl chattered almost nonstop, introducing different buildings with no small amount of pride and answering the guards' occasional questions.

"We didn't used to be able to grow so much food," she said, throwing her arms wide to indicate the fields. "But then Shelsy came and taught us all how to make the earth better. Now we always have wonderful harvests, and all the other towns and villages want to buy from us."

"Shelsy?" Amika repeated. "Who's that?"

"She's a lady that lives in the big house. She's very beautiful. I hope I grow up to be just like her."

Daniel chuckled. "So you like living in this village, Jema?"

"It's the best place there is," she agreed without hesitation, which was very likely why she had been chosen as their guide in the first place. But then she added in a conspiratorial whisper, "Most of the time anyway."

"Only most of the time?" Amika asked.

The smile faded from Jema's face and she glanced furtively around. "I'm not supposed to say. One of my friends told me about it, and he wasn't supposed to know, which means I'm not supposed to know either."

"We won't tell," Daniel assured her, dropping his own voice to a whisper as well and crouching down so that he was on Jema's level. "Why isn't it always nice here?"

The child cupped her hands around her mouth and leaned close to the redhead's ear to tell him her secret in a whispered rush. It was very quiet, but Natsu could hear all the words clearly.

"Sometimes," the girl said, "people disappear. The elder says that they go away to live in other villages, but my friend—he said that's not true. He said," and here, her voice grew even quieter, strained by nervous fear and the excitement of a child still unable to comprehend the true extent of what she was describing, "he said they go into the garden of the big house and never come out again. He said he saw the ground open up and swallow his cousin, and that he's sure the ground ate all the others too."

Beside Natsu, Zeref pulled his loose robes tighter about himself as though chilled.

The guardsmen took several long seconds to recollect themselves and respond to the girl's story.

"That's very interesting," Amika told her, forcing a smile. "I'm glad you told us, but don't tell anyone else, okay?"

"Okay," Jema agreed readily. "I wasn't planning to anyway."

"And this friend of yours," the healer added, catching the girl's hand and giving it a light squeeze. "Do you think we might be able to talk to him?"

Jema pursed her lips and regarded the four of them doubtfully. "His parents grounded him. I can talk to him from the bushes outside his window, but I don't think all of you will be able to hide there."

Natsu spoke up when the guardsmen hesitated. "That's all right. My friend and I don't need to talk to him. We'll just take a walk and meet you three back at the plaza."

They'd be able to snoop around more easily on their own since they weren't wearing guardsmen's uniforms.

As soon as the three had gone, Natsu and Zeref made their way back to the village square and the large house they had seen the old man enter. It was easily the largest house in the entire village, and they guessed that when Jema said "the big house", it was the one she had in mind. It was also the only house whose garden had been sectioned off with high, mud brick walls.

While Zeref kept an eye out for passersby, Natsu scaled the wall and peered over it into the garden beyond.

"Is there anything unusual?" Zeref asked.

"Not exactly," Natsu said, voice flat. He jumped back down, frowning. "It's empty. You only know it's a garden because it doesn't look much like anything else. There's one dead tree in the corner, but other than that, it's just bare dirt. And—it's very faint, but I smell blood."

"New?"

"Old and new," Natsu replied grimly. "Can you sense anything down there? If there is something, I think it's underground."

Zeref shut his eyes and reached out with his wizard's senses, feeling for any traces of magic. What he found made his eyes snap open again.

"There is most definitely something under the garden," he said. "Perhaps a chamber of some kind. But there are also very faint hints of magic all over this village. Out in the fields especially."

"In the fields, huh? I don't like the sound of that."

Zeref agreed. "Neither do I."

In their minds, they heard Jema's words all over again.

Now, she said, now we always have wonderful harvests.


	6. Feeding the Earth

The guardsmen's tents were a mottled brown and green that blended neatly into the hillside at night—not too pale, but not so black either that it seemed unnatural. They had brought three of them, which was all that the guard post had had on hand. It wasn't like the people stationed there were expected to do much camping out.

With the tents to hide them, nobody in the village would be able to see them unless they walked quite close. As far as the villagers knew, the four strangers had departed in the afternoon—none the wiser for their visit—and had no reason to return.

Zeref sat cross-legged on one side of the rather cramped space inside their tent. He was uncomfortable sharing such close quarters with another person but neither did he want to be alone. The thought of being alone surrounded by walls, even walls made of waterproof fabric, was depressing. So in the end, it was decided that he and Natsu would share the largest of the three tents while each of their two traveling companions slept in their own.

Granted, it was doubtful that any of them would actually get any sleep. They had stayed to watch the village after all, and most of the evening had been spent peering through the tent flaps towards the nearest row of wood and mud brick houses.

"Do you think they really have a wizard who's sacrificing people to make their crops grow better?" Natsu asked from his own seat by the tent entrance. He had the best night vision and was, by default, the most effective lookout.

"That is how it seems," Zeref replied, eyes closed and hands resting lightly on his knees. "If you want to give life to something using magic, you often have to give up life in return—or life energy."

"What about you?" Natsu asked, "If you don't mind me asking. You don't have to answer."

"Me?"

"I heard you can create demons. And there was that cart we used to carry the bandits."

"Demons are... complicated. That energy comes mostly from the atmosphere, but I also give them some of mine."

"Your life energy?"

"Yes. For small magic like with the cart, I just took the energy back when it wasn't needed anymore. And of course, it's not like a person only has a set amount of energy. If I rested, I would have recovered it on my own."

"You're going to have to explain all that in more detail to me sometime," Natsu said, shaking his head. "Sounds like sticky business. I mean, why would you want to go creating demons in the first place?"

Natsu regretted the question when his companion's shoulders hunched a little in response. Before the dragon could tell him that it was okay if he didn't answer that, however, Zeref did.

"I was... looking for a way to bring back the dead. And then later... I was looking for a way to die."

Natsu glanced at the wizard's hands, which were trembling, the nails digging into the skin of his knees through the fabric of his robes. Natsu wanted to reach over and stop him from hurting himself, but he knew that right at this moment, it wouldn't make a difference. The real source of the Black Wizard's pain ran much deeper than the skin, and anything else was just a distraction.

"Well, if that's what you were going for, I'm glad you didn't succeed," Natsu said instead, keeping his tone deliberately light. "My trip wouldn't have been nearly this interesting without you. Is there any change in the village?"

Very slowly, Zeref relaxed, focusing back on their present problem.

"Give me a minute..."

Natsu waited patiently for him to do a thorough scan of the area, glad that the village and its problems were enough to occupy Zeref's mind. That didn't mean Natsu wasn't still thinking about what the boy had said though. Compared to a dragon's lifespan, human lives really did seem so incredibly brief. Not to mention incredibly fragile. Perhaps that gave them a different perspective on things like living and dyingg.

"I don't..." Zeref started then stopped. His brow wrinkled, and then abruptly, his eyes snapped open. "The road we arrived by—!"

Natsu was up and out of the tent at once, racing across the fields towards the road. Zeref scrambled to his feet and followed, relying on his magical senses to guide him rather than his vision.

.

Amika heard the two wizards leave their tent from her own tent next door. She crawled out of her sleeping bag and stumbled out into the night, squinting through the darkness. She had no idea how the two managed to move so quickly with so little light, but she was grateful for their assistance. Every time she thought of the things that Jema and her friend had told them, her stomach churned with unease. Unfortunately, they hadn't found any solid proof of ill doings in the village, and the words of children weren't enough to launch a full scale investigation.

It sickened her how most of the adults in the village seemed to simply accept the disappearances as a part of life. They couldn't really be that blind to what was happening, could they? Or had life really been so hard that losing a relative or neighbor every now and then seemed a tolerable price to pay? She couldn't—wouldn't—understand it.

"What's happening?" she heard Daniel's voice out of the darkness accompanied by the rustle of cloth.

Amika turned towards him and glimpsed the glint of moonlight off his helmet.

"I think they sensed something," she replied quietly.

The two of them waited, listening in tense silence.

"I don't know much about magic," Daniel said after several long seconds, "but they're quite powerful wizards, aren't they?"

"I think so," Amika said, "but I can't explain why. It's just a feeling I have."

"They are a bit eccentric," Daniel said, joking. "As far as I can tell, powerful wizards are always a little odd."

Amika didn't laugh. She wondered why the two wizards had agreed to help them, and she wondered why they were traveling and where it was they were going.

It felt like an eternity later when Natsu and Zeref returned. The guardsmen saw them from quite some distance away, their gazes captured by the glow of orange symbols cutting through the night.

"Is this enough evidence?" Natsu asked, holding up what, at first glance, appeared to be a struggling serpent etched with vivid orange markings.

Upon closer inspection, however, the thing twisting and writhing in his hand was a long strip of paper—not unlike the one they had removed from the injured messenger. The Dragon Slayer had tied it into several knots to shorten it and restrict its movements.

"It left the large house in the village plaza a few minutes ago," Zeref added, his voice quiet and calm. "We caught it in the grass by the road leading towards the guard post."

When Daniel spoke, his voice was hard. "Yeah, I think that's enough evidence."

"Do you need our help arresting the wizard too?" Natsu asked.

Amika hesitated. "Are you sure you could do it? With this paper as proof, we can send to headquarters for reinforcements."

In the orange glow, Natsu's fanged grinned looked demonic.

"You kidding? Of course we can."

"We should go now," Zeref said, his face turned towards the village. "Before the spell caster hides again."

"What should we do with this?" Natsu asked, waving the struggling strip of paper about.

The two guards took a step back.

"I have a bag that should be able to hold it," Amika said. "I use it for magical supplies, so it has several protective charms on it."

She hurried back to her tent and returned with the bag in question. Natsu took it and stuffed the strip of paper into it before pulling the drawstring tight. The bag swung wildly from his hands as the thing inside fought to escape, but the spells on the leather held.

"She's running," Zeref said urgently. "She knows we intercepted her spell."

"Well, let's not keep her waiting."

Natsu tossed the bag into their tent, and the two wizards were off again. Behind them, Daniel and Amika looked at each other.

"Should we follow them?" Daniel asked uncertainly. He was no wizard, and he had to admit that the thought of being caught in the middle of a spell battle made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"I... suppose we should," Amika said, the words leaving her mouth with reluctance for very similar reasons. "There should be witnesses, and they don't actually have the authority to arrest her. But... perhaps we don't have to follow that quickly."

.

She.

The woman who had come to the village and "improved" it—at a price.

Shelsy grabbed the bag she always had packed and ready to go and left her workroom under the garden without bothering to reseal the entrance behind her. She hadn't survived this long by waiting around for unnecessary confrontations. All she needed were a few tools to ensure her spells worked, and she'd be able to make a place for herself anywhere. There probably wouldn't be a place as ideal as this isolated village, but she'd manage. She always did.

When the village elder had come to tell her of the guardsmen's visit, she hadn't been all that concerned. It wasn't until her spell had been captured that she'd begun to worry.

The village was silent as she hurried through it, all of its inhabitants fast asleep. None of them would be able to give away the direction of her departure.

Past the last house in the north, through the freshly tilled fields, and out into the surrounding hills—her heartbeat sped up. She was going to make it.

Just as she broke into a full out run, a jet of fire shot past her, lighting a wall of flames right across her path. Shelsy stopped and turned, her face a mask of rage. She was not going to fall here, not after all the trouble she had gone through.

Shelsy pulled a fistful of paper tags from her pack and threw them into the air. Rather than drift to the ground, the numerous pieces of paper rose, reoriented themselves, and flew like a flock of paper-thin knives at her attackers. A wild laugh reached her ears and another blast of fire met her spell tags and devoured them, incinerating both magic and paper alike. Her heart began to pound in earnest, this time with fear, and she turned to throw herself through the wall of fire. Before she could, however, a row of runes stenciled themselves in the air before her, blocking her way. She turned left, but there were runes there too, glowing faintly in shades of violet so dark they looked almost black. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she realized that somehow, in the few seconds she had taken to launch her attack, someone had boxed her in.

Her mouth set in a grim line, she turned back around to face the two wizards who had captured her. They were not wearing the green uniform of the guards. Nor were they dressed in the white and silver of the Rune Knights.

Just her luck, she thought sourly. Powerful, nosy bystanders.

.

"Well, that was easy," Natsu said, letting the flames around him die. "Will those runes of yours last?"

"They should," Zeref replied, letting his hands fall back to his sides. "I've set the parameters to nullify her magic. She won't be going anywhere until the guards or the knights send someone to pick her up."

The dark-haired woman within the box of glowing runes scowled at them.

"I'll remember you," she told them coldly.

And Natsu thought how ironic it was that they had heard the same words from the Rune Knights not so long ago.

"We're very memorable," he said.

Natsu's comment only made her expression darken further, but she said nothing more.

"The villagers probably won't thank us," Zeref said as their remaining companions jogged up to them. "You may have to stand watch here to make sure they don't try to help her."

"I'll stay," Daniel volunteered. "Amika, if you could just go back for reinforcements?"

The healer glanced from her fellow guard to their new prisoner then back again. Something about the woman made her uncomfortable, but then it wasn't every day that she met an actual dark wizard. Perhaps she was just being paranoid.

"I'll go, but be careful."

"I will."

"Do not let anyone near her," Zeref cautioned. "That prison is made to keep her in. But since I won't be staying, I had to make adjustments so that it is easier to break from the outside for when your people arrive."

"Got it." The guardsman waved his hand. "I know what I'm doing."

His companions hesitated, but there wasn't much else they could do. Instead, they fetched their belongings, packed the tents, brought Daniel's supplies to him, and started on the long trek back to the guard station. They could sleep when all of this was over.

.

Shelsy watched them go through unblinking eyes. She knew she was outmatched in a head to head fight with those wizards, but she was patient. And as she had told them, she never forgot her grudges. The wild-haired Fire Wizard had to be a Dragon Slayer. She knew what human Fire Magic was like, and that was not it. It was the other wizard who puzzled her. There was something not quite right about his face, like she was looking at someone both very young and very old at the same time. It was a quality that she recognized because she saw it in the mirror every day. Did he, too, have to go through all the hassle she did in order to remain so young? She didn't know yet, but she was going to find out.

This thought eased some of the resentment coiled in her chest. This could turn out to be an unexpected stroke of luck.

She glanced towards the guardsman who had drawn his sword and sat down with it across his lap. No, he looked too straightforward and honest to be bribed or easily tricked. But she would get her chance eventually, perhaps when the guards released her from these runes to transport her to a proper prison. After all, they only knew a fraction of her secrets.


	7. Paper Flowers

"I wonder what the villagers will do now."

Natsu glanced across the campfire. "You're still thinking about that?"

Zeref lowered his head. "They cannot rely on her magic to give them plentiful harvests anymore. They did not seem as resilient as the townsfolk we met in the forest, and unlike in the forest, there aren't many wild plants to gather out on these hills or animals to hunt. What they allowed to happen was wrong, but I still wonder what will happen now."

"They'll just have to figure things out like everyone else," Natsu said, polishing off the rest of his sandwich. They'd gotten several from the guard post as part of their payment. "It's not fair to sacrifice other people just to make your own life easier. Not like that."

Zeref nodded slowly. "It is easy to make sacrifices when you are not the one who is hurt. I'm sure many of the people who were killed would have preferred to live."

Certainly, the man in the road hadn't been willing to die in such a way.

There was a brief silence punctuated by the crackle of burning twigs and branches, then Natsu said, "We could send them the money we got for helping with the arrest. There's quite a lot of it, and it's not like we really need more money."

There was another silence, and then Zeref nodded. That hadn't occurred to him. It had been decades since he'd carried anything on him of any value.

"I think... that would be good."

.

With the bandits and the dark wizard in the village, both travelers were surprised to arrive in Crinko with no further incident. When they crested the last hill to see the glitter of sunlight like gold upon aquamarine water, both of them stopped, momentarily arrested by the sight. The map certainly didn't do the river justice. The Glass River with its crystalline waters and slow-moving current was so vast that they couldn't see the opposite shore from where they stood.

"It looks really different from the ground," Natsu marveled.

"It is quite impressive," Zeref agreed, turning his face into the cool breeze that blew across the water. "I have not been this way in a long time. I had almost forgotten."

"It's a nice view," Natsu said, "but I think it's even more striking from the air. When I can transform back, I'll take you flying so you can see it for yourself."

The shorter boy hesitated, glancing at him to check if he actually meant this, then said, "I'd like that."

The town of Crinko was a colorful, sprawling mess upon the riverbank with docks extending like fingers out over the water. Boats of all shapes and sizes crowded about the wooden piers, and despite the early hour, the place was already bustling with people loading and unloading cargo.

Zeref took a step down the road that led towards the town's main gates and hesitated. "Maybe I should stay here..."

"No," Natsu said firmly. "I'm not leaving you out here by yourself. We're traveling together, remember? Besides, we've been camping out for weeks. Don't you want a hot bath?"

"But, Natsu—"

" I told you, I'm getting good at telling when your magic's going to be a problem. I'll keep an eye on it for you and get you somewhere isolated if need be. Besides, I have an idea."

Zeref wanted to protest. He wanted to ask what idea Natsu was talking about, but it was too late. The dragon wizard had already shepherded him down the road, through the gates, and onto the busy town streets.

They were instantly swamped by noise. Here, three woman passed by laughing and chattering, their arms laden with bags from the marketplace. There, a group of children chased one another from alley to alley, shouting and tossing a ball of rags. One man strode by pushing a cart of oranges ahead of him and advertising at the top of his voice, and another sprinted the other way with his arms full of burlap-wrapped packages.

Zeref shrank away from all of it, hunching his shoulders and lowering his head so that his loose, dark hair obscured his features. He shouldn't—couldn't—be here. It was too risky. If something went wrong—

A calloused hand closed around his wrist, interrupting his jumbled thoughts.

"Don't think about them," Natsu said by his ear. "Nothing's going to happen. Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

Natsu released his wrist and moved his arm around the boy instead, guiding him deftly through the crowd and shielding him from the brunt of the chaos.

Zeref inhaled deeply, held the air for a moment, then let it out in a slow, measured exhale. Natsu was right. He had to stop thinking about all the people around them. Instead, he focused on just breathing and let his companion direct his footsteps.

"This inn doesn't look too busy," Natsu muttered.

The next thing Zeref knew, they were stepping into the dimly lit lobby of an inn. Natsu left him by the oil painting of a ship at sea before approaching the front desk, and Zeref cautiously glanced around.

Aside from the paintings hung side by side along the walls, the inn's lobby contained a number of leafy, green plants in earthenware pots. Zeref edged away from the nearest of these just in case. Unlike many other inns, this one had no tavern or other eatery attached to it, which probably explained why it was so quiet. The plain brown carpet under his feet was worn but clean, and the air smelled faintly of soap.

A minute later, Natsu returned with an entire ring of keys.

Zeref regarded the keys with confusion. "Why are there so many?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Natsu said, sounding very pleased with himself as he ushered his companion up a flight of stairs. "I got the rooms on either side of ours, as well as the rooms directly above and below us. I think the innkeeper thinks I'm crazy, but whatever. This way, it won't matter if your magic goes haywire because there won't be anyone close enough to be effected."

Zeref opened then shut his mouth. He had no idea what to say to that except perhaps, "But... that's incredibly expensive."

"So what? It's not like we can't afford it. We hardly spend money on anything, and no one said we'd be doing this often."

It was difficult to argue with this logic, and Zeref found that he didn't really want to. He didn't really want to stay out on the hills by himself, and if he didn't have to worry about people wandering too close to him at a bad time... then he would really prefer to listen to something other than empty silence and his own morbid thoughts.

So rather than say anything more on the matter, Zeref sank down onto the room's sagging couch and watched quietly while Natsu inspected their temporary living quarters.

"Seems comfortable enough," Natsu decided, pulling the curtains over the window aside and glancing out at the neighboring buildings. "And it's easy to hear people out in the hall. I suppose that would normally be bad, but in our case..."

He shrugged and turned to catch Zeref's gaze. "So... is this all right?"

The boy blinked, startled by suddenly being asked such a question. Natsu hadn't exactly given him much of a choice in the matter up to this point, but then perhaps that was because he knew what Zeref's answer would have been if he had asked outside the town gates.

"Yes," the wizard said, glancing past Natsu at the clear blue sky then meeting his eyes once more. "I think... this will be fine."

And that was the end of the discussion. Natsu went on to ask him about sending aid to Aulia from the local post office before leaving to get that particular errand out of the way. Zeref moved to sit on the windowsill so he could watch him go, then turned his attention to the mass of people flowing this way and that through the street.

It wasn't the first time Zeref had passed through a densely populated town like this one since he had been cursed, but it was the first time he had lingered. He felt like he was dreaming—not a good or a bad dream, but the kind of dream that distant memories sometimes became with just that tiny touch of unreality.

Frankly, his entire trip with Natsu so far had felt a little like that. Unreal.

How long had it been since he'd been able to just sit and listen to the sound of people living their lives? He'd grown so accustomed to maintaining his distance, keeping all his interactions with others to a minimum—not just because of his magic, but also because of the ambitious or frightened people who always seemed to be hunting him down. Sitting here on this windowsill looking at Crinko's busy streets, he was reminded of how removed he had become from life and society in general. Did this trouble him? If asked this question a few months ago, he would have said yes without hesitation, but now... After starting to travel with Natsu, Zeref had discovered that mostly, he had just been incredibly lonely. He wanted to be able to talk to others without having to worry. He wanted to be able to walk through a forest without killing half the trees and scaring away all the animals. He wanted, more than anything, to feel like he belonged somewhere.

The vase of flowers that the inn staff had placed on the coffee table wilted, their once yellow petals drifting down to litter the tabletop.

Zeref sighed. Right, he had to think about something else. Natsu had been right about the appeal of a hot bath. Maybe that would help clear his mind of these solemn thoughts.

.

Natsu paused outside the post office when he felt his companion's magic flare. Yeah, he was expecting that to happen sooner or later.

Natsu hoped he had done the right thing. Or at least not the wrong thing.

Being here was probably reminding Zeref of what his curse had cost him. That was unavoidable. But Natsu hoped that it would also help him see that he could still find a way to live in this world of theirs. It wouldn't be simple or easy, not with a curse like that, but then making your own way in the world seldom was. People had to make the best of what they had, and really, Natsu had seen humans do a lot more with a lot less. Zeref was obviously extremely intelligent, and his knowledge of magic was impressive by any standard. It would be such a waste to let all that talent suffocate under the weight of despair and self loathing.

Besides... Natsu liked seeing the other boy happy. He liked seeing the mixture of surprise and hope that flickered across Zeref's face when he realized that Natsu's idea would, in fact, work. It was bizarre sometimes how the littlest things Natsu did or said could affect his mood the way they did, but... it was kind of nice too.

Huh, he was getting rather attached to this human, wasn't he?

Natsu shook his head and made his way back through the streets. He remembered passing several delicious smelling restaurants on his way to the post office, and he was starving. The hills hadn't provided much in the way of wild game, and the guards had only thought to pack so much food. Natsu was going to buy everything on the menu of every decent restaurant on route back to the inn! And then he and Zeref were going to share the biggest meal they'd had since leaving the woods.

They could think about procuring provisions for the next part of their trip after they had eaten.

.

"Natsu... what happened to the flowers?"

"You mean the dead ones?"

"Those and... the ones in the vase right now. I can't help but notice that they seem to be made of paper."

Natsu set the last box of takeout on the table before glancing at the flowers in question.

"Yeah, really realistic, right? I saw them in an arts and crafts store on my way back. I figured we could use them. I told you, I can tell when you're having trouble with your magic."

So he'd gotten fake flowers to replace the real, withered ones.

Zeref moved away from the bathroom and sat down opposite his companion across the coffee table, still looking at the flowers. He didn't know if that was funny or depressing.

"If you have a choice, choose funny," Natsu told him, sticking his fork into a piece of fish drenched in a clear amber sauce. "We can replace them with real flowers before we leave. No one will notice."

Zeref wasn't so sure about that. He had noticed, after all, and he was fairly certain that Natsu would notice too. But... perhaps if no one said anything, it wouldn't matter." And looking at paper flowers beat looking at dead flowers any day.

Carefully, Zeref picked up his own fork and looked into the nearest takeout box.

"Is this... chocolate cake?"

Natsu grinned. "Chocolate cake seems really popular around here. I got three, one from each restaurant I stopped at."

Zeref shook his head. "I can't remember the last time I ate cake."

"It's the chocolate part that really interests me," Natsu said. "Eating chocolate's not all that great as a dragon. People just don't sell it in large enough quantities for it to be satisfying."

"You bought food as a dragon?"

"Nope. Anyway, I'd have had to raid a chocolate factory to get enough chocolate for a proper dessert."

Zeref shook his head, bemused. He wondered what people would think of a dragon raiding a chocolate factory.

Shifting the chocolate cake to the side, Zeref peered into another takeout box. He couldn't really tell what the contents were—some kind of tofu dish, maybe—but at least he knew it wasn't dessert.

"It will take us all afternoon to finish this food."

Natsu chuckled. "That's the idea. We'll be on the road again in a day or two, and then it'll be mostly barbequed fish. Besides, we have time."

And it was strange for Zeref to realize that yes, they did have time, and that having time was actually a good thing—at least in this small way.

He really was growing tired of barbeque though.

"Maybe we should buy some spices tomorrow when we go for supplies," he said aloud after tasting some of the tofu-something. Given its pale color, he had expected it to be bland, but it wasn't.

"Like what?" Natsu asked, interested.

Zeref looked away. He had no idea. It had been a long time since he had paid any attention to what he actually ate, let alone what any of it tasted like. It had been a long time since he had actually wanted to eat.

"Well," he said after some thought, "I suppose salt is always a good start. And perhaps we should get a cookbook too."

.

Amika pushed her chestnut bangs out of her eyes and frowned into her tea. She'd brewed the tea for herself—to calm her nerves.

The man from Aulia had regained consciousness earlier that day, and his words had bothered her.

"The knights have her," Daniel announced, stepping through the door of the guard station's modest kitchen. There were dark circles under his eyes, but his smile was easy with relief. "Some of the knights are taking her and the other two dark wizards away now. She's on her way to a wizard prison as we speak."

"That's good," the healer murmured.

Daniel frowned at her. "You don't sound very happy."

She sighed. "My patient woke up. He said something very strange."

"Yeah?"

Daniel retrieved a mug from the cupboard and poured himself some tea from her teapot. Evening had already crept over the sky outside and he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, but he wasn't hungry. He found the Rune Knights intimidating at the best of times, and nerves had pretty much killed his appetite. It didn't help that the remaining knights had made camp next to the guard station and wouldn't be departing until tomorrow noon.

Amika swirled the dark fragments of tea leaf around the bottom of her own cup.

"He said... that he saw a monster in the room beneath the garden, like a woman so old he thought he was looking at a living skeleton."

Daniel shuddered at the thought. "You don't think there was another wizard involved, do you? I mean, the dark wizard we caught was definitely a young woman."

"I don't know. I just don't know."

Amika shut her eyes and downed the rest of her tea in one gulp.


	8. Rumors

"What is this?" Edrik asked coldly from the top step of the guard house. The door swung shut behind him with a squeak, cutting off the banter from the local guardsmen stationed inside.

"News, sir," one of his men said, clearing his throat. The tall, lanky knight pushed a mousy little man ahead of him to stand before his team captain.

Captain Edrik of the Rune Knights looked down his slightly crooked nose at the cringing bandit, his own lips twisted in thinly concealed disgust. They had rounded up the whole group of bandits just that morning only to discover that their actual targets—the two dark wizards among them—had already been captured by a Dragon Slayer. It had also been a Dragon Slayer and his companion who had cornered the witch in the farming village. Chances were high that it was the same man. Edrik wasn't sure how he felt about that. He'd never particularly liked Dragon Slayers, although he had to admit that they were important. All the ones he'd met had been far too bloodthirsty.

"And what kind of news do you have that you think we could possibly want?"

The little man cringed, but the eyes that peered up at Captain Edrik through his bushy, gray eyebrows were clear.

"I heard you were looking for a wizard. A dark wizard who can make demons."

Edrik scowled. So someone had been gossiping. That someone had better hope Edrik never found out who.

"Get on with it."

The bandit flinched. "I—I saw someone do something strange with a spell. He gestured at a wagon, and it grew legs and walked over to him. Strangest sight I ever saw. Could that be the wizard you're interested in?"

Edrik's own gaze narrowed. The bandit did not appear to be lying.

Making up his mind, Edrik waved at the knight who stood waiting behind the bandit.

"Bring him to our camp. I will hear what else he has to say."

.

Zeref woke when the mattress creaked and Natsu got off the other side of the bed. The room they were renting only had the one bed. When Zeref had pointed this out the night before, Natsu had shrugged and replied that it was the only room available which had unoccupied rooms all around it. He'd then offered to sleep on the couch if Zeref preferred, to which the wizard had shaken his head. The bed was plenty big enough for two people, and technically, Natsu was the one paying for all of this. It didn't seem fair of him to usurp the mattress.

All the same, it had taken the dark-haired wizard forever to fall asleep, worrying about whether or not the person on the other side of the bed would still be breathing when he woke up. His magic was quiet when he was asleep or unconscious, but there was always the moments just after waking to consider. It helped to know that Natsu really could sense when Zeref's magic was going to act up, but still... A hundred years of habit were hard to break.

Zeref let out a soft sigh and slid off the bed before beginning to straighten the covers. Judging from the pale light seeping in from under the window curtains, dawn had not broken so long ago. Still, the marketplace should be open soon, and the sooner they collected the necessary supplies, the sooner they could be on their way. No matter what Natsu said, this arrangement had to be costing an outrageous amount of money, and they still had a long way to travel.

Although, Zeref thought, listening to the water turn on in the bathroom. Traveling like this was... really kind of nice. Maybe it was okay to let himself enjoy it.

.

"A long trip, huh?" The baker shook his head while he carefully wrapped the dense honey bread they had purchased in thick, waxed paper. "In that case, this bread should do well in keeping your energy levels up. It shouldn't spoil too quickly either. I'd also recommend the fruit and nut bars that Miss May sells next door. I can't say I'd want to be out on the roads these days myself."

"Why? Are there river pirates or something?" Natsu asked, thinking about the bandits back in the forest.

The baker laughed. "River pirates? No, not anymore. Don't know if that's a curse or a blessing, all considered."

"I would imagine that that's a blessing," Zeref said, carefully stowing the honey bread in his travel bag.

"Normally, yes," the man agreed, counting out their change and sliding the coins across the counter. "But you have to ask yourself why the pirates have disappeared."

Natsu raised an eyebrow at that. "As in you don't know why there aren't as many pirates?"

"Well," the baker drawled, his expression sobering, "it's hard to say. There are rumors, but... I'll tell you what I know for sure. We felt a tremor run through the earth here about a year or so ago. Not quite a full blown earthquake, but enough to shake people up and knock a few pictures off the walls. The wind blew dust over us for days—a real nuisance. Got into the drinking water and spoiled a lot of my flour. It was shortly after that that encounters with river pirates began to decrease drastically."

The baker frowned, drumming his fingers on the countertop. "I don't know if I should tell you this seeing as you're about to travel that way, but think of it as a reason to be cautious. See, in the last few months, the traders and fishermen around here have come across... occasional wreckages. Empty ships that have been smashed up. Sometimes, they find bloodstains, but they only ever found a corpse once... or at least a part of a corpse. It looked like the man had been bitten clean in half."

Zeref felt a chill run down his spine. He knew what that sounded like, although he hesitated to draw any conclusions just based on the baker's words. He glanced sideways at Natsu, but the dragon wizard's face had gone blank. Was he thinking what Zeref was thinking? The Black Wizard thought that the answer to that was probably yes.

Natsu was unusually quiet while they made the rest of their purchases. Worry for him overrode Zeref's own discomfort with being out in public, and the dark-haired wizard suggested they stop for brunch at a restaurant near the docks. It was too early for there to be many customers, and they were able to secure a table in the corner by the window. The air smelled strongly of river water and fish, but the lighting was good and the seats were comfortable enough.

Zeref waited until the waitress had left with their orders before asking, "Are you all right?"

"Huh?" Natsu focused his gaze on him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about what that guy said."

Zeref nodded, looking down at the ice cubes in his water glass. "The owner of the curio shop said that he'd heard of dragon attacks in the area. Do you think it's related?"

Natsu took a drink from his own glass of water before answering, melting all the ice cubes while he was at it just for fun. "Yeah, I think so. It sounds like a dragon attack anyway, but not just your normal hunt for prey."

"I do not understand."

Natsu sighed and pushed his water cup away from him. He caught Zeref's gaze and held it.

"The empty ships, the missing people and the blood and the corpse they found—those sorts of things all happening mean a dragon is hunting here regularly. It means that this area has become part of his territory. He wasn't just dropping by for a single meal because he was hungry and passing through."

"Part of his territory?" Zeref repeated, still not understanding.

"We aren't supposed to claim territory this close to human settlements," Natsu said, his eyes going hard. "It was the rule after the Civil War. You can't have a whole bunch of human settlements on your hunting grounds, and any settlements there are have to be on the boundaries because hunting humans specifically is no longer allowed. It's different if it's just the occasional meal when you're hungry and have no choice or people attack you. All creatures have a right to fight for survival after all. But if a dragon has claimed this area around the Glass River as his hunting ground, he's breaking dragon law and needs to be dealt with."

"I see." Zeref wasn't sure what else to say. Dragon customs were, for the most part, foreign to him.

"It's the kind of thing that gives dragons a bad reputation," Natsu continued, scowling.

When his order of steak arrived, he tore into it with a ferocity that the meat certainly didn't deserve.

"And it's annoying too because there are so few of us to begin with."

"When you say dealt with," Zeref said slowly, "do you mean... that he or she is killed?"

"That depends. Technically, you can swear to change your ways. But you know, most of the bad ones never do. And so someone has to kill them to stop them from causing more damage. These days, it's either a Dragon Slayer or one of us."

"Us?"

"Dad or me. One of us."

Zeref looked back at the contents of his own plate. He couldn't actually remember what he had ordered, but it looked like some kind of pasta with slices of mushroom and chicken. "I wonder if the town has sent for a Dragon Slayer yet."

"Don't know. Either way, I'll have to check it out."

"Does it... bother you?" Zeref asked hesitantly. This was obviously a serious matter. If he had been in Natsu's shoes, his own feelings on the situation would have been extremely complicated.

Natsu sat back in his chair with a sigh. "No, not in the way you're thinking."

Zeref glanced back up at him, startled.

Natsu gave him a crooked smile, the first sign of amusement that had crossed his face since leaving the bakery.

"You're forgetting that I'm not human. Fights over territory between dragons happen all the time, and it's not that unusual for a dragon to kill another dragon. It doesn't make me happy, but it doesn't really bother me much either."

The mirth faded from his expression and Natsu continued, "What really annoys the hell out of me is that dragons like the one that's probably living upriver make it that much harder for the rest of us to live peacefully with humans. Getting rid of them doesn't reverse the damage they've caused. It always makes me wonder if that's why Dad thinks we can't keep living the way we do."

"Did he say that?"

"Yeah, but I just don't get what he means. It's like he expects us all to eventually die out or something. Or possibly for us to find somewhere entirely new to live or just live as humans in the future."

Natsu shifted restlessly in his chair, a slight scowl darkening his features. The waitress who had stopped by to refill their cups gave him a nervous look and then glanced at the steam rising from Natsu's water glass. The liquid in the glass was practically boiling.

"Beg your pardon," she squeaked, almost spilling the water in her pitcher in her rush to move on to the restaurant's other table of customers.

To change the way they lived...

Zeref looked back down at his food, still mostly uneaten. Natsu obviously found the subject troubling, which was perfectly understandable. Zeref wasn't sure what the dragon Igneal had in mind either when he said such things, but it couldn't be easy to change an entire species' way of life. Especially not a species that had ruled this land for so long.

In other respects though, Zeref could understand why the Fire Dragon King was thinking about all this. The world was changing, and sometimes that meant you had to change too in order to survive. The dragon probably saw learning about humans as a part of that.

"Your father sounds like a wise soul," Zeref said, thinking aloud.

"Don't know. Maybe he is. But I wonder why it can't be enough to make sure we're all living peacefully right now. I mean, what was the point of fighting the war then?"

The Black Wizard wasn't sure what to say to that. Just living in the present was hard enough for him at the moment without trying to imagine the future.

"I'm not sure what the point is of fighting any war," Zeref said finally. "Real change takes time, and it doesn't happen because a few people demand that it be so. Of course, if no one made such demands, nothing would ever be accomplished. Some people need to think about the bigger picture, people like your father especially who are highly influential. But for the rest of us, I think... that perhaps it is enough to focus on the here and now. After all, if we can't even make peace with the people around us right now, there would be no point in trying to discuss the future."

The corner of Natsu's mouth quirked upward. "You know, you sound like a philosopher."

Zeref sighed and glanced out at the docks, which were becoming more and more crowded. "I've had a lot of time to think."

Too much time really.

"I suppose I was trying to say that you shouldn't let what your father said bother you. I'm sure you'll understand what he means someday, and in the mean time, it's enough to focus on the present and do what you can. After all, were you not the one who told me I shouldn't worry so much about the future?"

"I guess I was." There was a definite gleam of amusement in Natsu's eyes when he continued, "Honestly though, it's really just the fact that there's a dragon giving all us dragons a bad name that's getting on my nerves. But thanks for listening to all the rest of it. It's been on my mind a lot lately."

Zeref nodded, glad that his companion's mood appeared to have improved. There was just one problem now, and that was the fact that this restaurant seemed to be under the impression that everybody ate like Dragon Slayers. If Zeref forced himself to eat everything on his plate, he was going to be sick.

"Natsu, I don't suppose you could help me finish this pasta?"

Natsu grinned. "No problem. You only have to ask."

.

Their last stop before returning to the inn was a used books store whose front windows looked out upon the river. The selection wouldn't be as complete as that offered by a store that carried new books, but the prices would be dramatically lower. When they asked the shopkeeper about cookbooks, she directed them to a set of shelves near the back beside a bulletin board covered with restaurant advertisements.

"What about this one?" Zeref asked, pulling a thin volume from the shelf and passing it to Natsu. "It's all about fish. You did say we'd be eating a lot of fish... Or maybe this one?"

He chose another book and leafed through its pages. "This one claims to have easy recipes..."

"The food looks good enough in the pictures, but I suppose that just means the artist did a good job," Natsu said, flipping through the first volume. "I have no idea how easy any of this is though. There's a lot of writing, which makes me think it's going to be complicated."

Zeref glanced over at him, hesitated, then asked, "Natsu, can you read human writing?"

The dragon looked away, but answered after a second, "Some. Mostly food items. Restaurant menus. I can tell what a lot of these ingredients are, but the instructions might as well be a foreign language."

"Do you... want to learn?"

Natsu's gaze slid back to meet his. "Are you offering?"

"If you're interested, then yes."

The dragon considered this. "Well, since I'm going to be among humans for awhile, I suppose it would be useful."

Zeref nodded, and once they had settled upon a cookbook which declared that it was a busy traveler's best friend, he went in search of a book with simpler text. The store's collection of storybooks was limited, but he eventually found a book of short fairytales that had the added bonus of having the rather realistic image of a dragon pressed into its leather cover. He wasn't sure what Natsu would think of the stories, but hopefully, they wouldn't be too boring.

.

Edrik turned the charcoal sketch over in his gauntleted hands, careful not to crinkle the parchment. It was surprisingly good, and he admitted in the privacy of his own head that that surprised him. So the mousy little man wasn't as useless as he looked. The knights might be able to give the former bandit work as he had requested after all, if he was this accurate at sketching everything.

"Marley," the captain said, waving over his second in command. "You were with the team that encountered the Black Wizard last, correct? Led by Captain Lenzo?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is this him?"

Edrik held the sketch out to her.

Marley pushed her dark hair out of her eyes with the back of her gloved hand and held the parchment up to the fading sunlight. Edrik watched the color leave her face in a rush, making the freckles upon her cheeks more prominent.

"Yes, sir. I'm positive that it is." She hesitated, lowering the sketch to meet his gaze. "Is this... the person that that bandit wanted to tell us about?"

The captain nodded slowly, his lips thinned. He glanced across the hills towards the direction of the river. According to Captain Lenzo's report, his encounter with the Black Wizard had been interrupted by a strange but powerful Fire Wizard. The two dark wizards from the bandit gang had also been arrested by a Fire Wizard—or rather, a Fire Dragon Slayer. Could it possibly be the same person?

Marley appeared to be thinking along the same lines, because she asked, "Sir, did the bandit who drew this get a good look at the Dragon Slayer?"

"No. He was fighting, and all the flashy magic being thrown around got in the way."

"Oh." Marley looked back down at the sketch in her hands. "That's too bad. I thought maybe... It's really quite a coincidence, isn't it? But I suppose it's probably not the same person."

"Why do you say that?" Edrik asked sharply.

"We—well," she stuttered, startled. "I mean, the Black Wizard's Death Magic—I just don't see anyone risking it."

Hmmm, it was a logical assumption, Edrik supposed. Still...

"That may be, but we shouldn't rule it out," he said, turning his gaze back towards the hills across which the Dragon Slayer and his companion had departed. "Like you said yourself, it is an incredible coincidence. Tell me, is there any rule against putting out wanted posters?"

"For the Black Wizard, sir?"

"Naturally."

Marley's brow furrowed. "I suppose if we only write that he's a dangerous dark wizard, but refrain from mentioning any names or otherwise hinting at who he actually is, it shouldn't hurt to just put out a poster requesting information. It's mostly that we don't want unprepared people getting involved or Dark Guilds getting too interested."

The captain gave a brisk nod. "Send a request for permission to headquarters, and let me know as soon as they reply."


	9. Blood in the Current

It was early morning and a thin mist hung over the water, softening all the colors and edges of the landscape. It was going to be a warm day, Natsu could sense it. But for now, the air was cool and sweet with the scent of flowing water and river reeds. The sun had risen scant hours before, and they were the only people on the road that ran parallel to the river along its southeastern shore. With only the sound of their own footsteps and voices, it felt like they had the entire riverbank to themselves.

Beside him, Zeref lifted a hand to stifle a yawn.

"You could have slept longer, you know," Natsu said. "We didn't have to return the room keys until noon."

The wizard let his hand fall back to his side and shook his head. "I'm all right, really. And I wanted to leave before the streets became too crowded."

"All right, but let me know if you need a break, okay?"

"I will."

Technically, neither of them had gotten much sleep the night before. Zeref had started teaching Natsu how to read, but then ended up reading half the book of fairytales aloud to him instead. The dragon had never heard any of the stories before, and Zeref would pause now and then to tell him alternative versions he had come across during his wanderings. They had eaten dinner in their room again, and overall had such a pleasant evening that neither of them had noticed the lateness of the hour. At the same time, although they had not slept much, both of them felt clear-headed and refreshed.

So despite the very real possibility of facing a dragon in the near future, they left Crinko in high—or at least decent—spirits.

"I still think it's ridiculous to think of a dragon kidnapping a princess," Natsu said, referring to the last story they had read the night before. "I mean, there isn't really any reason to believe she'd taste that much better than another human. Of course, since I wasn't brought up to think of humans as a food source and I've never eaten one before, I can't say for sure, but it doesn't take an expert to realize that a village would be way easier to catch prey in than a castle. A lot more to eat for a lot less trouble. And if a dragon did fly off with the princess of some kingdom, I doubt any knight would have the chance to rescue her. She'd probably have been eaten by the time he caught up with them."

"I suppose the writers thought that would be rather unromantic," Zeref said. "Fairytales aren't supposed to be realistic. I think that they say more about people's wishes and fears than anything."

"Wishes and fears, huh? I suppose being kidnapped by a dragon would fall under fears."

"Well, it probably wouldn't be a wish." Zeref tilted his head, his expression growing thoughtful. "Although as far as such stories go, I imagine that it's more about the hope that love really can conquer even an obstacle as great as a dragon."

Natsu snorted. "That's the other thing. Why are all the stories love stories?"

"That's a good question. Not all fairytales are love stories, but I do believe that a great majority of them are. I hadn't really thought about it before." Zeref was quiet for awhile, looking out across the river to their left, then he said, "Perhaps it's because deep down, humans want to be cared for and to have someone or something to care about. Feeling nothing is a kind of pain."

Sensing the dip in his companion's mood, Natsu changed the subject. "We dragons tell stories too, though they're mostly about things we've done or seen. Some of it's about sharing news, but a lot more of it's about boasting."

Zeref's brow furrowed. "Boasting?"

"Yeah, well, it's not like we have gatherings around a campfire and laugh over fantasies. I suppose we're more solitary than humans, and maybe more grounded in the here and now. The only time a lot of dragons gather in one place is for tournaments, which are all about showing off our strength."

"So stories about battles won and other such accomplishments?"

Natsu laughed. "Sometimes, but most of it's not nearly that serious. Like there was this one dragon who went on and on about this giant grizzly he'd fought and killed, and how he was able to carry it all the way back to his lair a league away without stopping to rest."

He caught the dubious expression on Zeref's face and grinned. "That probably sounds really silly to you, doesn't it?"

"Maybe a little," Zeref admitted. "But some humans do the same thing. I've never understood the desire to compare one's physical strength. There are so many more important things."

"You're probably right," Natsu said. "But I have to admit that I'm guilty of doing the same, so I can't really talk."

Zeref shook his head.

"Well, I suppose it's not entirely pointless in the kind of world we live in, although I am more easily impressed by a man's character than his strength. I have met plenty of very powerful individuals that I'd rather," he paused to think of a suitable comparison, since "rather die" meant so little from someone who had attempted on several occasions to take his own life. He finally settled for, "Rather drink poison than spend any time with."

"A man's character, huh?" Natsu glanced sidelong at him, studying his profile against the pale morning sky. "So what kind of man would impress you?"

Zeref gave the question serious consideration. He hadn't liked people very much in general for a long time, and he'd spent plenty of time trying to figure out why.

Of course, just because he had thought about it extensively didn't mean he had come up with a definitive answer.

"I don't know," he replied finally. "What I do know is that I despise hypocrisy, and I generally dislike criminals."

"Who doesn't?"

"Well, hypocrites and criminals, I would assume."

Natsu laughed heartily at that, and that brought a very small , answering smile to his companion's face. Natsu still hadn't heard the boy laugh yet, but he was confident that he'd get a laugh out of him sooner or later.

.

By noon, the sun had burned away all the mist and the sky was a cloudless expanse of blue reflected upon the river's surface. They stopped for a bite to eat down by the water's edge, and Natsu managed to spear several fish with his knife. They had just set the fish to roasting over an open fire when Natsu spotted the wagon making its slow and halting way along the road towards them headed for Crinko.

The wagon had no horse. Instead, several men and women were alternatively pushing and pulling it, beads of sweat rolling down their dusty faces and soaking into their clothes. The wagon itself was piled high with bags and boxes, amidst which sat an elderly woman holding onto a child of about nine or ten. Even as Natsu watched, the boy wrenched himself free of the old woman and leapt over the side of the wagon. He stumbled when he hit the ground, but immediately began to run back the way they had come, managing only two steps before one of the men grabbed his arm.

"Let me go!" he shouted, kicking at his captor's shins with his sandaled feet.

The man grimaced in pain, but didn't release him. "Don't go wasting their efforts, son."

"I am not your son!"

"Taka, please."

The wagon creaked to a halt and the old woman clambered down with the aid of some of her companions. She reached out to grasp the boy's shoulder in one thin hand. He started to shake her off, but then appeared to change his mind and glowered fiercely back at her.

"I'm going to save them, Grandma."

"Taka, you can't. They're probably already—already gone."

The old woman's voice broke on the last word and tears began to leak from the corners of her eyes, following the wrinkles down her face to her chin before dripping onto the front of her gray dress.

"Don't say that!" Taka shouted, his voice hoarse with fear and anger. "It's not true, it's not!"

Natsu glanced at Zeref, debating whether or not to approach the company. He was curious to know what was going on with them, but it looked like an emotional moment and he wasn't sure if it was impolite as an outsider to get involved. Then again... he smelled dragon, and that meant these people might have information that would prove useful.

Zeref said nothing, leaving it to Natsu to make the decision. Given the choice, the wizard was accustomed to simply avoiding everyone. Things were different at the moment because he was no longer wandering around alone, but just how they were different he hadn't yet decided.

Natsu looked back at the wagon. The handful of people gathered around it looked exhausted and sad, their faces haunted by sights they no doubt wished they hadn't seen. If nothing else, they looked like they could use a hot meal and a break, which meant the wizards wouldn't just be intruding on their grief.

Mind made up, Natsu made his way up from the riverbank with Zeref trailing on his heels.

"Hey, is everything okay here?" he asked, raising his voice so the weary group of travelers would hear him before he got too close.

Several of them jerked around as though half expecting an attack, and a dozen pairs of anxious, wary eyes were suddenly focused on the two newcomers.

"Okay enough," one man said gruffly, his face unhealthily pale behind his bristling beard and mustache. "Thanks for asking."

Taka started to speak, eyes flashing, but a look from his grandmother made him hold his tongue.

Natsu weighed his options. These people hadn't told them to mind their own business, but they also seemed wary of talking to a stranger. Which meant if he wanted information...

"My friend and I were just about to have lunch," he said, gesturing back towards their campfire. Natsu could already smell the roasting fish, but he wasn't sure if the humans could. "We don't mind sharing. You look like you could use something to eat."

The travelers stared at him, obviously wondering about his motives.

"I can't help but notice that your wagon's in bad shape," Natsu said, referring to the jagged chunks missing from one of its wooden sides. "If I'm not mistaken, those are claw marks. Really massive claw marks. I'm a Dragon Slayer, and I heard there was a dragon wreaking havoc in this area."

The entire group tensed at the mention of dragons.

Taka stood straight, gaze intent. "If you're a Dragon Slayer, could you—could you save my parents?"

"Taka—"

"No!" The child stamped his foot. "I'm not going to be quiet. I'm going to go back there. I'm going to save them."

Abruptly, his eyes watered, and he swiped at them with the sleeve of his tunic, leaving a smudge of dirt across his cheek.

The adults around him said nothing, shifting their weight awkwardly from foot to foot while they waited for someone among them to speak up.

The elderly grandmother let out a long, slow sigh and nodded to Natsu. "Thank you. If it's not too inconvenient, we will join you for lunch. We haven't eaten a proper meal in days."

.

Natsu waved away the travelers and pushed the wagon containing all their worldly possessions across the grass and over to a large tree closer to the water. The group watched wide-eyed, amazed that one young man could move that much luggage all by himself without even breaking a sweat. Once the wagon was safely out of the road, everyone gathered around Natsu and Zeref's campfire, and the dragon went to collect a few more fish.

Zeref took out one of the loaves of honey bread they had bought and broke it into several pieces, sharing them around the fire. They looked like they could use something sweet.

"You're brave to be traveling with a Dragon Slayer," the elderly grandmother said, peering at him from across the flames. "They do very dangerous work."

Zeref nodded. "I know, but I don't mind. I enjoy traveling with him."

It was only after the words had left his mouth that Zeref realized how true they were. Not that he had meant to lie. It was just that he hadn't really allowed himself to think about it.

"You two are close?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I do consider him a friend."

It felt strange to admit it out loud. It had been a long time since Zeref had been able to call anyone a friend. He hoped that Natsu wouldn't disagree with him.

The old woman nodded slowly and sighed. "I wish we'd met you two earlier. Then perhaps..."

"Could you tell us what happened?" Zeref asked.

She sighed again and looked at her grandson, who was glowering sullenly down at his piece of honey bread. The other adults busied themselves helping Natsu with the fish and gave the child his space.

"When we heard that a dragon was attacking ships on the river, we thought that it was just a rumor," she said, the words coming out tired and slow. "We come from a small fishing village upriver, although the place is little more than ruins now. The attack came so suddenly. Several families were killed almost right away, and the rest of us fled with what we could take."

Zeref frowned, glancing back towards the road. Did that mean there were other refugees on the way?

"Some of the others might have gotten away," the man with the mustache said, guessing at his thoughts. "But we're the only ones left who came this way. The beast's been picking us off—one, two at a time."

When he stopped, unable to continue, the old woman spoke up once more.

"Last night, we were attacked again. It—it went for the children. Little Lexy was killed instantly, but Taka managed to avoid its claws and run. He escaped under the wagon, and my son and his wife—"

"I shouldn't have run," Taka said suddenly, not looking up. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have run. I should have just let it take me. Then maybe Mom and Dad would have gotten away."

"Taka!" his grandmother chided. "Your parents wouldn't have wanted that. Losing you would have been worse than anything."

Taka didn't reply, but he lowered his head further, and Zeref saw small spots of dampness appearing on his clothes. The wizard looked away, the back of his own throat tight. He could imagine it all too clearly. There were few things in the world more powerful than a parent's love for a child. He had seen other parents make such sacrifices before, although sometimes in vain.

Oh no.

"Excuse me," Zeref said, rising quickly to his feet. "I'll be back in a minute."

Not waiting to give any further explanations—he honestly didn't have the time—he hurried away from the confused travelers. He couldn't let them see too much, and so he circled around the wagon beneath the tree and waded a little ways out into the water beyond with both tree and wagon between him and the campfire. The current rushed about his knees, but he barely noticed the freezing water, preoccupied with the black fog rapidly unraveling around his body. For a few achingly long seconds, he struggled to breathe normally and to calm his own emotions. Then, almost as abruptly as it had started, the magic settled and the last wisps of black mist dissipated like smoke on the breeze.

"You okay?"

Zeref jumped, startled by the sudden voice so close to him, and stumbled when the hungry current dragged at his feet. A hand grabbed his arm to steady him, and he looked up into Natsu's grim face.

"How long were you here?" Zeref asked, horrified.

"Long enough," the dragon said dismissively. "And I'm obviously fine, so stop freaking out."

Gradually, Zeref's heartbeat slowed down. He glanced back in the direction of the campfire, which he still couldn't see, and then up the river towards the misty blue smudge of mountains in the distance.

"I... don't suppose his parents could still be alive...?"

They had just been talking about dragons carrying people off that morning. Now, the whole issue was suddenly a great deal more serious. This was not a fairytale. It was real life with real hopes and real tragedies.

Natsu sighed. "It's not completely impossible, but I doubt it."

"I see."

Zeref let out a long breath and let his eyes close for a moment. Unlike the worn fabric of Taka's clothes, the river flowing around them would not give away his tears.


	10. Lightning and Ash

"I want to go with you."

Despite the late evening shadows, Natsu easily picked out the small figure of the child through the darkness. Taka stood between them and the road, his chin raised and a sheathed knife hanging at his side from a makeshift belt of rope.

The wizards had sort of expected this, which was why they were leaving now while the group of weary men and women slept. That, and Zeref had declared that there was no way he could sleep surrounded by so many people, so they might as well get the upcoming battle over with if Natsu wasn't tired.

It looked like they weren't going to be able to avoid this conversation though.

"That would be unwise," Zeref said quietly, not wanting to wake the adults.

"I don't care," Taka snapped. "That dragon took my parents. I have to go."

"No, you don't," Natsu snapped back.

Zeref had never heard the dragon speak so harshly.

"What good would it do for you to tag along?"

"I don't know, but there must be some way I can help!"

"How? Do you have any combat training? Do you know any magic? Have you ever even held a proper weapon before?"

Taka clenched his fists but said nothing.

"Then don't go throwing away your parents' sacrifice," Natsu said coldly. "If you come with us, you'll just get in the way. We can't spare the attention and energy to look after you. And if you get yourself killed like this doing something stupid, your parents would have sacrificed themselves for nothing."

The boy looked down at his feet. "But I... I can't just do nothing."

"You're not doing nothing," Natsu retorted, although his tone was less sharp. "You're surviving. You and everyone that's left from your village are going to make a new life for yourselves. Believe me, that's not an easy thing to do. And if your parents are still alive, we'll rescue them."

Zeref didn't speak until he and Natsu were far enough down the road that he was certain no one would overhear them.

"Is he following us?"

"No, he isn't."

"Do you think that was a little too severe?"

"Someone had to say it. People shouldn't go throwing their lives away for nothing, especially not when other people have gone through so much trouble to keep that life intact."

Zeref lowered his head. He could see the sense in that, but still... Certain memories were painful to live with. He suspected that saying so would anger his companion, however, so he kept this thought to himself.

.

The moon hung like a brilliant silver disk in the sky, its glow reflected in shimmering fragments upon the river's surface. Under other circumstances, it would have been a beautiful night.

"What should we be looking for?" Zeref asked, following Natsu off the road and away from the river.

"It depends," Natsu replied, pausing for a moment to study the landscape before continuing on. "If any of the people he's taken are still alive, they'd probably be at some kind of lair. We should look for any caves or large buildings. If he has any sense at all, he should already know we're here. If he attacks, can you protect yourself?"

"I believe so."

"Good. I've never fought another dragon in this shape before, so it might be harder for me to keep an eye on you. Uh, try not to get too close. I tend to get a little carried away during battle."

Zeref wondered what that was supposed to mean.

Natsu stopped again to examine the blackened remains of a shattered tree stump.

"I'd say we're probably dealing with a Lightning Dragon. The smell that lightning leaves behind is pretty distinctive."

The Black Wizard nodded, making a mental note of this. That was helpful to know if he did have to shield himself.

"Wherever he's staying, it shouldn't be too far from here," Natsu muttered under his breath.

"How do you know?"

"I've been following the scent of human blood since we left the road. A lot of it's fresh. And with how much he's been hunting, it wouldn't make sense to have to fly super far away to rest. That's doubly true if he's been harrying the villagers who escaped."

The scent of fresh blood. Zeref was glad he couldn't smell it. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what they were probably going to see when they found what they were looking for. He had seen plenty of death over the years, and although all of it was bad, some ways of dying were more horrible than others.

Zeref wasn't sure exactly when he became aware of the silence. The grass beneath their sandals gave way to dirt and gravel, and the crunch of their footsteps falling into the stillness felt unnaturally loud. He could hear no insects, no calls from nocturnal birds, and even the whisper of the river had faded into the distance.

It was as though the whole world was waiting, or as though the greed of the beast who lived here had already driven away most of the life within these lands.

He had no sooner thought this then Natsu had grabbed his arm and yanked him to the right. Yellow lightning struck the earth where they had been, spraying dirt and gravel everywhere and leaving behind the tang of ozone. The second bolt of lightning smashed into a magic circle that appeared in the air before them and fizzled out.

"Nice one," Natsu said, then raised his voice and shouted. "Hey, is that your answer?"

The voice that answered him had boulders in it. "My answer? That depends on the question."

Looking towards the speaker, Zeref could just make out something huge rising up against the night sky. The shadow resolved itself into the shape of a serpentine neck and outspread wings as the dragon hissed at them. Zeref couldn't make out the color of its scales, but its eyes gleamed like burnished copper even through the darkness.

"Two more humans for dinner it seems. How convenient of you to show up just as I was about to eat."

Natsu snorted. "Something's wrong with your nose. Or has pigging out on people dulled your senses?"

"What?" The dragon narrowed its copper eyes and sniffed. "A Dragon Slayer?"

"Wrong." Natsu summoned two fistfuls of fire and glared up at the other dragon. "You know hunting humans like this isn't allowed anymore."

"That power," the dragon hissed, rearing back. "So you're Igneal's son. You think you can kill me? And in the guise of a weak human, no less. What an insult! I'll kill you first for invading my territory and stealing my prey."

It's head darted forward, jaws snapping. Natsu jumped to avoid it and immediately went for the back of its neck with a blade-like arc of flames that burned so intensely that it was like looking at a piece of the sun. The dragon twisted away from the attack, roaring, yellow lightning crackling between its teeth.

Zeref took a step back, one hand half raised, but neither dragon paid him any attention. Briefly, he thought about helping, but he was afraid that he would only get in the way. That, or get stepped on by the giant beast, which wouldn't have been much better. Besides, in the light from the fire and lightning, Zeref had seen a rectangular silhouette not much further ahead that looked like it could be the remains of a large, stone building. If anyone was still alive, that seemed like a promising place to search.

Trying not to imagine what he might find inside, Zeref hurried towards the stone structure, skirting around the battle. Small explosions tore the night air every time a bolt of lightning struck dirt, and the entire ground shook when a particularly vicious attack from Natsu sent his opponent crashing back.

It was the first time Zeref had ever seen a battle between a dragon and a Dragon Slayer, and it was hard to look away. As far as impressive fights went, you didn't get much more impressive than this.

The building had no roof, and the stones that made up its walls were charred and cracked in places. It had no door either, just a gaping hole where the door had once stood. Zeref picked his way carefully over the churned up earth and peered over the threshold.

The stench of blood and decay hit him hard, and he lifted a sleeve to cover his nose. The first thing he saw made his heart sink and his stomach turn over. In one corner near the door, there was a pile of bones—human bones, he was almost certain—stained here and there with something dark that was probably dried blood. From amidst the pile, a skull stared back at him, its crushed dome making its perpetual, frozen grin that much more disturbing. Staring back at it, Zeref wondered if there was any point in searching further.

"Is—is someone there?"

The question coming out of the darkness within the building was so unexpected that Zeref almost jerked away from the entryway. The voice sounded like a woman's.

"Where are you?" he asked, searching the shadows along the walls.

"We're over here."

We? He thought, astonished.

A clump of something near the far wall that he had assumed was debris from the caved-in roof shifted. Careful not to step on anything that might turn out to be extremely unpleasant, Zeref made his way towards what turned out to be a woman with her right arm wrapped around a small girl. Her left arm was missing from the elbow down, and someone had tied a rag tightly around the stump to prevent further blood loss.

"What are you doing here?" the woman asked, her face a pale shadow against the darker shadows around her. "What's going on outside?"

The ground shook and the girl shrank closer to the woman's side.

"I'm here with my friend," Zeref said, then glanced at the shivering girl and added—in case it helped, "We're here to rescue you."

"There's only two of you?" the woman asked doubtfully.

"I'm a wizard," Zeref explained, "and my friend is a Dragon Slayer."

"Oh."

Lines of tension that he had not noticed before smoothed away from her features, and he realized that she hadn't been allowing herself to hope for rescue until that moment.

"Is there only the two of you?" Zeref asked, although in truth, it surprised him that there was even one living person in here.

The woman smiled, although there was no real humor in it. "I believe we were going to be dinner. He only just brought Jill here this afternoon."

A massive explosion of flames outside momentarily turned the night to day, accompanied by a blistering wave of hot air. For that split second, Zeref got his first clear look at the woman's face. Despite the dirt and the bruises, there was something strangely familiar about it—about the angle of her cheekbones and the steadiness of her stare.

"Are you... Taka's mother by any chance?" he asked.

The light faded, and in the moments that followed, he could see nothing at all.

The woman didn't answer right away. When she did speak, it was guarded. "I do have a son by that name."

"Is your husband...?"

"He's dead," she said flatly.

Right. Of course.

"We met your son and his grandmother," Zeref said. "They were on their way to Crinko."

Out of the darkness came a long, deep sigh.

"I'm glad."

.

Natsu dodged the swipe of the other dragon's claws then leapt when its tail lashed towards his feet. Fighting in the shape of a human definitely took some getting used to. But he was starting to get the hang of it. Although humans couldn't really fight with teeth or claws—not against an opponent as large and well armored as a dragon—it was possible for Natsu to move with far more agility.

The difficulty lay in finding the opportunity to deliver the finishing blow.

He countered a ball of lightning with a blast of fire, then aimed a follow-up attack at the green dragon's eyes. It drew its head back and brought a wing forward to shield itself, then retaliated with another bolt of lightning.

Natsu grinned. It must have been awhile since this dragon had fought another dragon. That, or it was underestimating him because he currently wore the form of a human. Every time the creature released its lightning, it always lifted its head up and back, exposing the underside of its jaws. Sure, for a normal human, the spot would have been too high up to reach, and anyway, even the thin scales that covered the area would have been enough to repel most human spells. But Natsu wasn't a human wizard.

The dragon swung its tail around towards him once more, and Natsu jumped, planting one foot on the scaly hide and using the momentum to propel himself back several paces to land on a patch of relatively clear ground. This put him far enough away from the dragon's own body to give it a nice, clear shot at him, and sure enough, it took the bait. It reared back, its mouth open in a snarl of frustrated rage that crackled as it gathered its lightning—and Natsu struck.

Flames, concentrated and intense, tore through the layer of thin scales along the underside of the dragon's jaw then back down across its throat and along the side of its neck. Vivid red blood gushed from the wound, and the air filled with the stench of burning flesh.

.

The thunder of something gigantic collapsing to the ground was unmistakable, as was the anguished, half choked roar of a dying beast.

The three humans in the broken building held stock still, listening. When no other sounds of combat reached them, they very cautiously started towards the gap in the wall. Taka's mother wavered a little, unsteady on her feet, but Jill stayed at her side, steadying her and helping her walk.

A few trees were still burning, the flames casting a dull orange light that felt more threatening than warm under the circumstances. By their glow, the humans could make out the body of the dragon sprawled upon the ground. Light gleamed off a pool of blood about its head and neck. The entire underside of its mouth and throat had been ripped open.

Taka's mother averted her gaze from the carnage and Jill began to cry, all the stress of the day catching up to her.

The girl's tears turned into a small scream when something rose from the other side of the dead dragon's head and started towards them. Zeref couldn't blame her. If he hadn't known it was Natsu, he would have been inclined to feel startled himself.

The wild-haired wizard was drenched in blood. There was so much of it that it dripped from his clothes. It didn't help that the pupils of his eyes had narrowed to thin slits like those of the dragon he had just slain, and his lime green irises were touched with red.

"None of the blood's mine," the Fire Wizard said, attempting to reassure them.

The two women did not appear to be reassured.

Natsu didn't bother saying more to them. Hell, he'd just gotten out of a battle. What did they expect? Instead, he turned to Zeref.

"So it's just these two?"

The boy nodded and gestured at the older of the two women. "This is Taka's mother."

"Nice to meet you," Natsu said, addressing her. "I'm sure Taka will be happy to see you. You should get someone to look at your arm as soon as possible. It smells infected."

"I will, thank you."

"You familiar with this area?" Natsu asked. "We could escort you back to your family."

"That will not be necessary," she said. "I know where we are. I've lived around here all my life. And Jill will come with me. When we reach Crinko, we can see about contacting her remaining relatives."

"Well, if you're sure."

The two women said that yes, they were sure, and left after several more words of thanks.

Natsu watched them beat a hasty retreat towards the main river road, making sure they were headed in the right direction, then grumbled, "That's gratitude for you. Hardly stayed long enough to get out their thank you."

"They are grateful," Zeref said. "But they're also frightened."

"But I wasn't the one who attacked them or tried to eat them."

Zeref nodded. "That may be true, but they cannot help but imagine the terror of having such power turned against them."

He'd learned that lesson all too well, and despite his best efforts, it often left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Natsu sighed then shrugged. "Oh well, it doesn't really matter."

"It doesn't?"

"Nope. It's not like they're important to me. It's annoying, sure, but at the end of the day, I really don't care what they think."

It was Zeref's turn to sigh. "I wish it were that easy not to care."

He couldn't quite decipher the look that Natsu shot him. It seemed caught somewhere between fondness and amusement.

"Caring isn't a bad thing. I mean, you just don't want people to be scared of you or think you're a terrible person. That's not unreasonable. You've just got to draw the line somewhere."

"I suppose." Zeref turned back to the dead dragon and frowned. It had not been a considerate or self disciplined creature, and it had wreaked havoc on both the local environment and the inhabitants. But all the same, seeing it like this was a little depressing. "It feels wrong just to leave it like this."

"Yeah," Natsu said. "Give me a second."

When they, too, began to make their way back towards the river, they left behind them a blazing fire so immense that even Taka and his grandmother saw its glow on the horizon. The flames burned with unnatural intensity, devouring both magic and flesh, eating through layers of heavy scales and bone, and leaving behind nothing but ash.


	11. Of Laundry Spells and Dreams

"I'd better wash off all this blood before we move on. These clothes will probably never be the same though."

"I might be able to help with that," Zeref said, inspecting his companion's bloodstained vest and leggings.

"Yeah?" Natsu raised his eyebrows.

"I have a spell for it," Zeref explained, which earned him a slightly dubious look.

"You have a spell for doing laundry?"

Zeref was puzzled. "Is that strange? Clothes need washing sooner or later, and it saves me the bother of carrying multiple garments."

"That's true," Natsu said, scratching the back of his head only to grimace at the stickiness of the blood drying in his hair. "It's just funny that you've got magic for something so mundane."

Zeref didn't see anything funny about it. It was perfectly practical. And anyway, Natsu's clothes certainly looked like nothing short of magic would be able to clean them.

They chose a spot on the riverbank with a grove of trees that would hide them from anyone passing on the road—although at this time of night, that was hardly a concern. Natsu peeled off his bloody garments and waded into the cold water while his companion set about sketching several rows of runes in the air around his discarded clothes, creating a rectangular space around them formed of countless little glowing marks. By the time the dragon swam back to shore, even the smell of blood had been erased from the fabric.

"This is amazing," Natsu said, inspecting his now spotless garments before putting them back on. "They look almost new."

"That was the idea," Zeref said.

Natsu swore he detected a trace of amusement in the wizard's voice. But hey, Natsu had seen plenty of spells meant for blowing things up, creating illusions, and even healing wounds. This was the first time he had ever seen magic used as a stain remover.

"How long do you think the fire will keep burning?" Zeref asked quietly.

The grin faded from Natsu's face, and he glanced back the way they had come, the glow muted to a dull, reddish orange by distance. The sense of triumph he felt in the wake of winning a battle had long since faded, leaving behind only the solemn knowledge that he had done what had to be done. The humans around here would no longer have to live in fear of being preyed upon, but on the other hand, there was now one less dragon in the world. Perhaps it was inevitable. Wicked and greedy dragons could do so much more damage than an average human dark wizard. Maybe his father was right and the time of dragons really was coming to an end, but what did that mean for Natsu and the other good dragons?

"Hard to say," he said in response to his companion's question. "Probably not until some time tomorrow."

"People are going to notice."

Natsu shrugged at that. "Yeah, but that can't be helped. And they'll have to find out that the dragon's gone sooner or later."

Slowly, Zeref nodded.

"Problem?" Natsu asked, frowning.

"It just seems sad, how easily lives can end."

"That's why we have to fight for the time we have," Natsu pointed out. "And as long as we have time, we should enjoy it so it doesn't go to waste."

"Is it really that simple?" Zeref wondered aloud. "Who decides what is wasted time? How do you know if you are making the most of what you have?"

Natsu shook his head. "I don't think anyone could answer those questions for you. But I do know that spending your life thinking about dying is not a good use of your time."

"When you spend half your time watching things die, it is hard to think of anything else."

"Fair enough. But you know, when you aren't that depressed, your magic is quieter and fewer things end up dying in the first place."

Zeref blinked and focused his gaze on him. "Is that true?"

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if you'd noticed. It's like how you know that when you're calm and not thinking about anything too serious, you don't have to worry as much about your curse acting up. I realize that it's not a long-term solution, but it doesn't hurt to give it a try, right?"

"Give what a try exactly?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Natsu reached out to ruffle his hair and grinned at the startled confusion that crossed his face. On Zeref, he found it an adorable expression. "Being happy."

.

Being happy?

It should not have been a novel idea, but it was. When Zeref had still been wandering the kingdom on his own, it would have been an impossible demand to make of himself. But now... Contemplating it now, it didn't seem like such a total impossibility.

He glanced at Natsu, glad to note that the dragon didn't seem tense anymore. There had been an odd sort of tension about him since the battle, but after their brief stop at the riverside, it had gone away. Perhaps it was because he no longer reeked of blood. Zeref certainly found that a relief himself.

Zeref's nervous energy from the past several hours was finally beginning to wear off, and it left him feeling tired and a little lethargic. Neither of them wanted to linger too close to the site of the battle, however, and so they didn't pause again to rest until well past dawn.

They found a place where a particularly large, flat boulder protruded out over the river and sat on its edge, letting the current wash over their bare feet. Natsu eyed the fish that swam past hungrily, and Zeref didn't have to be a seer to foresee that there was a large amount of barbequed fish in their future.

Sure enough, they'd been resting for hardly more than twenty minutes when Natsu waded in to begin his assault on the local fish population. Zeref used the time to take a short nap with his travel bag as a pillow, waking some time later to the smell of cooking fish. Without having to be asked, Zeref sat up and began rummaging through his pack for the salt and pepper.

Judging from the crispy, steaming pile Natsu had set on a clean patch of stone, the fish in the river had had a hard time.

"Let me know if you want any more," Natsu said, digging into the barbequed fish with gusto. "I only caught about twelve."

"Twelve sounds like plenty to me," Zeref replied. "Considering their size, I doubt I could eat even one by myself."

Natsu barely paused between bites to answer. "Just eat your fill and I'll finish what's left."

Neither of them spoke again until there was nothing left of the fish but a scattering of bones and scales that the river's current hadn't carried away.

"Any idea when we'll reach the next town?"

Zeref took out their map to check. "Not until tomorrow noon at the earliest. Should we go around it?"

Natsu shrugged. "Don't know. We don't really need anything, so we could just go around. No point making up our minds until we get there though."

"That's true." Zeref yawned and added, "If you don't mind, I think I'd like to sleep some more."

"Of course I don't mind. I should probably take a nap myself."

But after they'd made themselves comfortable on the grassy slope that led from the water's edge up to the road, neither of them could actually sleep. Instead, they lay awake listening to the rush of the current and watching the occasional bird fly by. Zeref knew that Natsu missed being able to fly. He wondered if seeing the birds reminded the dragon of that. It probably did. It had to be a huge adjustment, going from being able to fly over entire mountain ranges to having to walk everywhere on foot, but he never heard Natsu complain about the loss.

Perhaps that was just part of making the best of what you currently had.

"Hey," Natsu said suddenly, his voice drifting over the short span of grass between them. "If you didn't have to keep moving around, where would you want to live? I mean, what would you want the place to be like?"

"Aside from a place with very few people in it?"

Natsu snorted, but replied, "Yeah, aside from that."

Zeref considered the question, closing his eyes and trying to picture an answer. He'd passed through so many places on his wanderings. This really shouldn't be that tough, except that it had been such a long time since he had allowed himself to dream.

"Well," he started cautiously, "I suppose perhaps somewhere in the mountains. It's quieter in the mountains. Somewhere high with a clear view of the horizon. A spring or stream would be quite important as a source of fresh water, and some fruit trees would be convenient..."

Natsu chuckled. "So practical. Would you want to live in a house?"

"I don't know. Maybe if it was well camouflaged."

"I guess it's hard to stop thinking that way, huh?"

"Sorry."

Again with the pointless apologies," Natsu sighed, exasperated.

Zeref opened his mouth to apologize again but managed to stop himself before the word could escape him. Instead, he asked, "What about you? Do you already have a territory? Is it okay for you to be away this long?"

"Nah, I'm still looking for a good place, so it's not a problem. I have a few different areas in mind, but I wanted to scout them out a bit more before I made up my mind. Still, it'll have to wait until I break this curse."

"Is it... difficult being stuck as a human?"

"Well, it's not easy, that's for sure. But mostly, it's just really inconvenient." Natsu paused, considering, then added, "The food's great though. Humans really know how to cook."

The responding sound from Zeref was so soft that Natsu almost thought he had imagined it. But he hadn't made it this far in life by doubting his own senses.

Zeref's eyes snapped open when a shadow fell over him. He was startled to find Natsu leaning over him with his nose mere inches away, having propped himself up on one elbow.

"What?"

"You laughed," Natsu said, the surprise clear on his face.

"I did?"

"Yes, you did. I heard you." Slowly, Natsu's surprise turned to glee, and he grinned. "About time! I knew I'd get a laugh out of you sooner or later. Not sure what's funny about human food tasting great, but whatever. Good enough for me."

His face disappeared from Zeref's vision when he flopped back onto his back, leaving the wizard blinking up at the clouds. He had... laughed? Had he laughed? He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed. Was it even okay for him to laugh? He'd been responsible for so much grief.

"You're over thinking things," Natsu said, stifling a yawn. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you if anyone gets close. We can get going in an hour or so."

.

A fist pounded on her door, and Amika groaned. She'd been just about to fall asleep. Getting off the cot pushed against one wall of the infirmary where she usually slept, she stumbled over to the door, slid back the bolt, and opened it.

"What is it?" she demanded, raising a hand to shield her bleary eyes from the glow of the oil lamp in the person's hand.

Daniel's voice came out of the darkness. "Several messages just came in and... you have to see this. I don't know what to do."

He sounded upset, Amika thought the last traces of sleep clearing from her mind. Out of all the guards currently posted at this station, she and Daniel had been here the longest and knew one another best. He wouldn't have called her up in the middle of the night without a good reason.

"Come in," she said, letting the door swing open and moving to grab a coat from the nearby row of coat hooks upon the wall. Nights at this time of year were too chilly for her liking. Her hometown was located in much warmer climates.

Daniel didn't turn on the infirmary's main lights. Instead, he hurried to one of the tables, set down his lamp, and pulled several pieces of paper from his pocket. When Amika joined him, he handed one of these to her without saying a word.

It took the healer a second to realize what she was looking at. It was a wanted poster requesting information and cautioning civilians against approaching the target in question, and the face sketched upon it looked strangely familiar.

Amika gasped. "But that's—that can't be right."

"That's what I thought," Daniel said with a sigh. "But I think they're serious."

"He didn't seem like a dangerous criminal to me," Amika murmured, speaking mostly to herself. "Why do you think the knights are looking for him?"

"It says he's killed a lot of people," Daniel replied, referring to the small line of text at the bottom of the page.

Amika frowned. "There has to be some mistake. He was so upset by what happened in Aulia. Someone like that can't be a mass murderer. I just can't believe it."

Daniel rubbed a hand over his face and handed her a second piece of paper. "That's the other thing. Have a look at this."

This page contained a letter with instructions to increase the patrols around Aulia and any other nearby villages. Any sign of trouble or sighting of—sighting of—

Amika shivered and let the paper drop from her hands back onto the table. Suddenly, even with the extra coat, the room felt too cold.

"She got away? How could they let that happen?"

"Seems the woman they transported to prison was a magically created copy. There are spells around most wizard prisons to cancel out tricks and illusions. The moment she stepped across the threshold, she disappeared. The only thing left was a paper cutout in the shape of a person."

Amika chewed her lip then asked, "Do they have any idea when the switch happened?"

Daniel laughed, but it sounded hollow and tired. "They think it could have happened as early as the village when they took down that rune barrier to take her into custody. But it's more likely that it was sometime after that, since she spoke to some of the knights while they were on the road. Captain Edrik wants the two of us to be especially careful for awhile, because he thinks she might want revenge on us for helping to capture her."

Amika pulled a stool out from under the table and sat down heavily upon it. Her gaze fell once more upon the wanted poster.

"Should we... warn them? If she does want revenge, it makes more sense to go after them than us. We hardly did anything."

Daniel looked at the wanted poster too, expression clouded. Amika could almost hear him debating with himself, weighing the evidence of their own interactions with the wizard in the sketch with the words inked upon the page. Personally, the healer knew what she had more faith in.

"I'd like to warn them," he said at last, "but how? We have no way of contacting them. It's not like our message hawks are familiar with them."

"We know they'll be traveling along the Glass River," Amika said slowly, thinking out loud. "My sister works on one of the trading ships that frequent the area. We could send a message hawk to her."

"The fortuneteller?"

"Yes, her."

Daniel grimaced, remembering the one time he had met the rather eccentric woman and her just as eccentric husband, but nodded. "All right. If you write up the message, I'll send it first thing at dawn before anyone else gets to the hawks."


	12. Feast Day

For better or worse, they were unable to avoid stopping in the next town—not because they needed additional supplies, but because the citizens spotted them before they could get off the road and roiled out of their houses to greet them.

Natsu glimpsed a quick succession of surprise, confusion, then panicked dismay cross his companion's face, and then the townsfolk were all around them, laughing, cheering, and trying to shake their hands.

"Hey!" Natsu shoved his way none too gently through the masses and wrapped an arm protectively around Zeref's hunched shoulders. "Give him some space, will you?"

Under his glare, the excited crowd reluctantly pulled back, although not nearly far enough for Zeref to relax. He shrank back against Natsu, hoping like hell that the dragon would be able to prevent any casualties if anything went wrong. The two of them would no longer be so welcome if the townsfolk began dropping dead.

A man dressed in a bright green waistcoat extracted himself from the crowd and gave them a small bow. When he straightened, they could see that he was smiling so broadly that even the small wrinkles around his eyes were pulled into the expression.

"Welcome, welcome! We've been expecting you. We received the news yesterday."

"News about what?" Natsu asked, baffled.

"Of your defeat of the dragon, of course," the man said, beaming. "A rider bringing us mail from Crinko told us."

"He must have met Taka's family on the road," Zeref said quietly for Natsu's ears only.

The dragon's confusion cleared. He'd forgotten that humans used horse-drawn coaches and riders on horseback to deliver mail from settlement to settlement. Sure, a few places used message hawks, but hawks were difficult to keep and could only take one or two messages at a time.

The man in green was still talking. "Please, let us show our gratitude. We've prepared a feast to celebrate, and we would be honored if you and your companion would join us. It's the least we could do."

That explained why the aroma of food was so strong.

These people were sincere, Natsu realized with some surprise. The relief and joy rolling off them was almost palpable. So then, what to do? It didn't seem right to just leave when these people were so eager to thank them, and Natsu had never had been to a celebratory feast before. But... Zeref was obviously very uncomfortable. They couldn't afford even one accident with his curse.

Zeref shifted a little under his arm, and Natsu glanced down to find a pair of dark eyes peering up at him. The shorter wizard studied Natsu's face for a moment then turned back to examine the crowd. A few of the faces turned towards them were beginning to look confused and worried at the two newcomers' lack of enthusiasm.

Natsu knew the moment Zeref made up his mind because his shoulders straightened a little and he turned to meet the dragon's gaze once more.

Hesitantly, he said, "I suppose we could stay for a little while."

"You sure?" Natsu asked.

Zeref nodded. "It would be bad to disappoint them after they went through all this trouble."

Natsu grinned and looked back at the man in green, who had been waiting patiently for their reply.

"Sure, no reason to turn down a feast. We're actually passing through on our way to somewhere else though, so I don't know how long we'll be able to stay."

"You're welcome for as long as you'd like to be here," the man assured them, raising his voice to be heard over the eruption of cheers. "Please, this way. Our fresh trout cuisines are famous all along the Glass River, as are our sweet potato pastries."

Zeref kept an eye on the townsfolk closest to him and let Natsu take care of which way the two of them were actually walking. He hoped he hadn't just made a monumentally stupid decision. Still... Natsu looked so excited that he couldn't help but feel that it was worth the risk.

.

Natsu wasn't used to humans being this happy to see him. Of course, he'd always found people screaming in terror and scrambling to run the other way to be kind of funny, but this was still a nice change.

Originally, the townsfolk had prepared a table for them on a raised dais, but Natsu had declined and appropriated a table by the large fountain in the middle of the town square instead. He gave Zeref the chair right next to the water and took the seat next to him himself. As far as deterring people from approaching the dark-haired wizard, it was a fairly effective arrangement. Zeref helped by keeping his head down and focusing most of his attention on whatever Natsu put in front of him. This had the added bonus of making it appear that he really appreciated the food being served by the local restaurants—which he did, although he appreciated not having to make small talk even more.

The man in green turned out to be the mayor. He and his wife sat across the table from the two wizards and took turns telling them about the town, raising their voices to be heard over the noise of the festivities and the table that was just a little too wide for convenient conversation.

"We get some very fine trout here in Oliva," the mayor said, gesturing at the many trout dishes upon their and others' tables. "They tend to be even better earlier in the year, although this year... well, never mind that. Let's not talk of tragedies on a celebration day."

"You simply must try the fish stew," his wife spoke up, ladling some into her own bowl before turning the handle of the ladle towards their guests. "It's my absolute favorite, and with all the ginger, it's quite good for you."

"I thought I asked them to remove the ginger," the mayor said, dismayed.

His wife frowned at him. "You just told me the other day that you thought you might be catching a cold. The ginger will help with that."

He sighed. "Yes, dear. Could you please pass me that pasta?"

"You know the doctor said you shouldn't eat so much rich food. It's bad for your heart."

"Just a bite won't hurt."

"No, but you never have jut one bite. Besides, our guests won't be able to try any of it if you clean the entire plate. Let them have some first."

Across from them, the two wizards exchanged bemused glances. The mayor and his wife appeared perfectly capable of carrying on the conversation all on their own, and to be honest, they were really quite funny.

About a fourth of the town plaza had been set aside for dancing, and several groups of musicians were taking turns performing on a makeshift stage. Natsu had seen some of the instruments before—drums made from tanned hide stretched over round wooden frames, lengths of bamboo or reed with holes bored into them at intervals, box-like instruments with anywhere from four to more than a dozen strings—but seeing them and actually hearing them played were two entirely different experiences. Hell, who knew that a couple fancily decorated pieces of wood could make such nice sounds? Or some of the sounds were nice. Some, like the noise the current band was producing, not so much. Natsu assumed it had to do with the skill of the musician.

"Well actually," Zeref said when Natsu voiced this opinion, "this particular song is meant to sound this way."

"Are you serious? But it's like they're all just randomly doing their own thing."

"That's because they are. This style of music was popular in some areas a decade ago." Zeref thought for a moment then added, "It doesn't always turn out so badly. Musicians who are better at listening to one another can coordinate such performances quite well. I heard a bit from quite a skilled group while I was passing through a place further west."

"That's good to know."

The band concluded its song, and there was a smattering of relieved applause when they got off stage to be replaced by a young woman dressed in midnight purple and a man with a guitar.

Natsu turned his attention back to the food, losing interest in the music entirely—right up until the moment that the young woman began to sing.

All other activity in the plaza slowed then stopped as everyone grew quiet to listen. The woman's voice rang out over the entire square, unbelievably clear and somewhat lower than Natsu had expected from a girl. Then again, screams of terror probably weren't a fair point of comparison. Even his untrained ears could tell that whatever else this performer was, she was an excellent singer.

Accompanied by a soft background of guitar chords, the singer's voice rose and fell, following the path of a simple but nonetheless beautiful melody. Her accent made it a little hard to figure out her exact words, but something about each long, drawn out note seemed both full of joy and yet a little sad. For almost four whole minutes, the woman held the attention of everyone around the plaza, and when the last, lilting note finally died away, there was another whole second of enchanted silence before her audience broke into hearty applause and shouts of praise.

The mayor's wife let out a long, deep sigh. "Minerva has such an amazing voice."

"She does," Zeref agreed.

Both the mayor and his wife started at the sound of his voice. It was the first time he had spoken to either of them this entire time.

"She was accepted to an extremely prestigious music conservatory earlier this year," the mayor said, more than happy to elaborate upon the subject if it interested the quieter of the pair. "She was supposed to travel there this spring, but... well, you know. I expect we'll be able to help her get there now, and explain to the admissions committee why she had to delay her response."

"That song she sang, the lyrics were very well done."

This time, it was the mayor's wife who answered. "She wrote them herself—the melody too. If I remember correctly, it was for her elder brother when he left home for his own apprenticeship some years ago. He's quite a well known blacksmith now, practicing in the capital."

Zeref nodded, unsurprised. "You can feel how much she cares for him."

And how much she missed him.

Just then, a giant cake was wheeled out of a nearby bakery on a trolley and the mayor was called over to help cut it. He and his wife excused themselves for a moment to speak with the bakers and show their appreciation for the work they had put in to the frosted masterpiece.

Natsu turned to his companion the moment their hosts were out of earshot.

"I didn't know you were interested in music."

"I'm not sure I would say that I am," Zeref replied. "But... it's been a long time since I've been able to just sit and listen to a performance like this. Even before my curse, I seldom allowed myself the time to do such things. It is... something that I regret."

"Staying for this feast wasn't such a bad idea then, huh?" Natsu asked.

"I suppose not." Zeref hesitated, then asked, "What about you? Is all this what you expected?"

Natsu gave this question serious consideration, surveying the activity around them. It was a somewhat disorganized picture to be honest. Almost none of the tables in the plaza were the same size, having been provided by the various families and businesses nearby. None of the tablecloths on those tables were the same color either, and even the cutlery and flatware looked like they had come out of a dozen different kitchen cabinets. The food was great, but actually getting to any of it wasn't quite so easy with all the miscellaneous furniture in the way and the people milling about. Overall, there was an incredible amount of noise and chaos, yet at the same time—like everyone could feel Minerva's love for her brother in her song, it was easy to feel both the townspeople's happiness and their desire to share it.

"It's not exactly what I expected," Natsu said at last, "but I'm having fun. I've never seen people acting like this before. Some things could be better, but yeah, these human gatherings aren't half bad."

Zeref nodded and said, "I'm glad."

They were quiet for awhile after that. Zeref declined the wine offered by a passing server, asking for a glass of water instead, then returned his attention to his food. Natsu, on the other hand, found that eating suddenly wasn't quite so interesting anymore. He watched his traveling companion pick at the potato salad that one waitress had recommended, wishing that he could see his eyes again.

It hadn't occurred to the dragon until now that Zeref had chosen to stay for his sake.


	13. Not Really Stowaways

The small house on the edge of the docks had once been a vacation home, but that was before the dragon had moved into the area. According to the mayor, the original owner had tried and failed to sell it, and then simply abandoned it. It was no wonder really. Set some distance apart from most of the town as it was, it would have been the perfect target for a hungry dragon, and the wooden walls would have provided poor protection.

For its current occupants, however, its location couldn't have been more ideal. No immediate neighbors, very few passing boats, and almost zero random passersby.

Natsu stood by the large window in the house's single bedroom. He had unlatched and opened the wooden shutters to let in the cool morning breeze. Narrowed eyes scanned the view of the river beyond, searching for anything amiss. He had sensed something earlier, something off that he couldn't quite place his finger on, and even though whatever it was no longer seemed to be close, it bothered him. The only thing Natsu knew for sure was that whatever it was, it was bad news and it was somewhere on the river.

Oh well, he'd just have to stay alert and deal with it if it approached them.

Turning away from the window, Natsu glanced back towards the bed. Zeref was still asleep on the far side of it, the blanket pulled up so far that all Natsu could see of him was a mop of black hair. The townspeople had made up only the one bed for them the night before, and both wizards had been too tired to comment on it. Besides, these people had been very generous so far, and they didn't want to trouble them with unimportant details.

Hell, to think they had actually stayed the night in town. These people didn't realize how strange that was.

Hmmm. Natsu had never really noticed it before, but Zeref had a rather pleasant scent. The dragon hadn't had much time to pay attention to it until now, and besides, it wasn't until recently that Zeref had really begun relaxing around him. Natsu supposed the boy was finally starting to get used to him.

It was... kind of endearing that Zeref had agreed to attend yesterday's feast just because of how excited Natsu had been at the prospect.

Natsu listened to his even breathing for awhile, trying to decide whether to wake him. Zeref's sleep looked unusually peaceful though, and yesterday had to have been stressful. They weren't actually in a hurry, and none of the townspeople would bother them here. Besides, it sounded like the entire town was still asleep, having partied itself out last night. They had time for the wizard to sleep awhile longer. In the meantime, Natsu may as well look around town since they hadn't had the time to do so the day before.

.

True to Natsu's suspicions, the streets were practically deserted. A few of the shops he saw had opened their doors, but the shopkeepers within either had their heads down on their folded arms or were nodding off over some book or other. It wasn't until he found the post office that he saw anyone who actually appeared alert.

The post office door had been propped open, and a boy perched on a tall stool inside with a whole bunch of papers scattered on the desk in front of him. He looked to be about Taka's age—maybe nine or ten years—and sported a mane of mahogany hair that looked like it had never been combed in his life.

When he spotted Natsu in the doorway, he lowered the stack of envelopes in his hands and grinned. "Good morning, sir. Wonderful feast yesterday, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was." Natsu gestured at the cluttered tabletop and asked, "What's all that?"

"It's the latest batch of mail," the boy replied, waving a white envelope. "We got two whole bags this time. I'm in charge of making sure they all get delivered to the right people and places."

The boy puffed out his narrow chest, obviously very proud of this great responsibility.

"It's easier if I get them all sorted out here first—before I make my rounds." He pointed to a number of different piles. "Those are all private letters, these are for the different businesses, the ones over there are all messages that need to be posted on the bulletin boards in the town hall, and—oh, these ones here go in the boxes on the docks for the boats passing through."

"Is there always this much mail?" Natsu asked.

The boy shook his head. "Not usually. It's just that with the dragon and all, people hadn't really been delivering stuff. The mail coaches used to run pretty regularly every other day, but when the dragon came, we only ever sent a rider now and then on the fastest horse we could get."

"I see."

Something amidst the mess of papers had caught Natsu's attention. He reached out and pulled a page from under several others. His eyes widened a fraction before he could hide his surprise. He didn't know all the words written under the sketch, but the message was clear enough—as was the amount of reward money promised in exchange.

"What's that?" the boy asked, watching him curiously.

Natsu shrugged, thinking fast. "Just a wanted poster. I assume it's headed for that bulletin board you mentioned. Say, I've done some bounty hunting work myself. Is it okay if I just go ahead and take this?"

The boy thought for a moment then shrugged. "Sure, it should be okay. I think the bounty hunters who come through town do that a lot. If whoever it is doesn't get caught soon, someone will send another copy."

Natsu just bet they would.

Damn, it looked like Zeref wasn't going to get as much sleep as Natsu had wanted him to. They had to get out of here, the sooner the better. Had this poster been sent to all of the settlements in the area? If so, their journey just got a whole lot more complicated.

Natsu left the boy to his work with a falsely cheerful farewell and strode back down the street. The down side of traveling on the road along the river was the severe lack of cover as compared with what they had had back in the woods. Maybe Zeref could cast a concealment spell on himself? But no, he'd asked the wizard about it before, and magic always left a kind of signature for anyone trained to detect it.

Catching sight of a clothing store on the corner, he detoured inside and made a beeline for the shopkeeper sleeping with her head on her folded arms upon the checkout counter. She woke with a start when he addressed her and sat up quickly, rubbing the drowsiness from her eyes.

"You—want a what?"

"A cloak," Natsu repeated, "for my friend."

The shopkeeper brightened and got up from her chair.

"Oh, you're in luck there. I still have several very fine cloaks in stock. Did you have anything particular in mind?"

The dragon took a moment to think about this, trying to remember what kinds of cloaks he had seen humans wear.

"Something with a deep hood," he said, starting with the most important feature. Hopefully, it would help obscure Zeref's face and make him harder to recognize. "And it would be great if it was good for both warm and cold weather. There are cloaks like that, right?"

"Oh certainly," she said, smiling. "You're looking for a cloak with a detachable fur lining. What do you think of this one?"

Natsu had just paid for his purchase when he caught a whiff of incense on the air. He glanced through the open shop door and spotted a woman seated upon a wooden bench on the other side of the street—a woman who looked a lot like someone he knew.

"Sir? Did you need a bag for that?"

"No, that's okay. Thanks."

Sweeping the neatly folded bundle of cloth from the counter, Natsu headed out the door.

Dark eyes glanced up through thick, chestnut hair when he approached.

"Natsu, am I correct?" she asked.

"That's right. You look a lot like Amika, but you don't smell like her."

The woman arched one thin eyebrow. "Is that an insult or a compliment?"

"It's neither. It's a fact. So who are you?"

"Refreshingly straightforward," she said dryly. "My name is Maki, and Amika is my older sister—although only by a few minutes."

Maki stood and brushed off her khaki pants.

"You saw it then," she said, glancing pointedly at the cloak Natsu held. "The wanted poster."

The dragon wizard narrowed his eyes.

Before he could say anything, however, Maki continued, "No need to glare at me like that. I'm not going to turn your friend in. The opposite, in fact. I'm here to help."

"Why?" Natsu asked suspiciously. One thing he'd never liked about humans was how unscrupulous they could be when money was involved.

She gave him a rueful smile. "Because Amika asked me to, and I have the feeling that it's the right thing to do."

.

Zeref sat cross-legged on the bed, looking from the wanted poster with his own face on it to the letter that Amika had sent to her sister. The fact that the Rune Knights had put out a wanted poster for information about him did not surprise him. Actually, it surprised him that it had taken this long for them to get around to it. Amika's warning worried him more. No doubt that dark wizard with her cursed paper spells would come looking for them, and unlike the knights, she would not hesitate to hurt bystanders in order to get her revenge.

"I got this for you," Natsu said, shaking out the cloak and holding it up so Zeref could see it. "It'll be way harder to tell who you are if you have the hood up."

The cloak in question was a soft dove gray that wouldn't stand out too much, and the inside was lined with pale brown fur.

"For when the weather gets cold," Natsu explained. "It's detachable. I know you're not immune to the weather."

In other words, the dragon had been thinking ahead. The temperature would drop the closer they drew to the mountains and the lake that was their destination. A warm piece of clothing would certainly be a comfort if not an absolute necessity.

"We should leave before the rest of the town wakes up," Natsu continued. "I took their wanted poster, but I'm sure the knights will send another one eventually. I don't think that many people got a good look at you, but it's hard to be sure and I don't want to take the chance that they might give you away."

Zeref nodded and got up to begin packing what few items of theirs that weren't already in their travel bags—mostly small gifts from the townspeople. For the first time in longer than he could remember, he didn't want to wait and see what the knights had in store to try on him. He wanted to find their way to Eden Lake. He wanted to meet this curse breaker that Natsu had told him of and try to find a way to dispel his curse. He wanted, more than he was willing to admit just yet, to keep traveling with Natsu.

"Maki said her husband is a trader, and he's got their ship waiting just outside of town."

Zeref paused. "A boat? But I can't travel by boat. That would be a terrible idea."

"Yeah, I thought of that. I told them not to worry if we suddenly jumped off the side or something. They'll carry us as far as they can and drop us off before nightfall."

"Upriver, against the current?" Zeref asked, brow furrowed.

"That's what she said."

Zeref wasn't sure how much distance they would actually be able to cover that way, but he supposed it would be safer than walking out on the open road—for a short while anyway.

When he actually saw the small ship waiting for them, Zeref discovered that he was wrong. This ship would be able to travel very quickly indeed, even against the current.

"What makes you say that?"

In answer to Natsu's question, Zeref pointed at the colorful red, blue, and yellow patterns painted along the ship's sides.

"If you look carefully, you can see several rune sequences worked into the pattern. It looks like they have enchantments for speed, stability, resistance against decay, and even prevention of motion sickness. The runes don't stand out because the artwork is so complicated, but they're not difficult to distinguish if you are familiar with magical symbols."

"Huh, I just thought whoever built the ship had really bad taste in art."

"The colors are a bit garish," Zeref agreed. "I would have gone for something more... subtle."

Of course, neither wizard was tactless enough to voice these opinions aloud when they met Maki and her husband on deck.

"Thank you for your assistance," Zeref said, nodding politely to the couple.

The trader rubbed his chin and eyed the wizard thoughtfully. "Well, you don't look or act much like a hard-bitten criminal. Then again, if all criminals had it written on their faces, this world would be an easier place."

Zeref wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to this, and Maki saved him the trouble of saying anything by speaking up herself.

"Troy, we should set sail before the sun gets too much higher. It'll be easier of we reach the checkpoint by noon. The guards there never look too closely at the ships when they're in a hurry to get to lunch."

"Yeah, I know." Troy waved at a member of his crew who had stopped to stare. "Hey, get back to work. You're being rude to our guests—who, by the way, were never here. Got it?"

"O—of course, sir. Sorry."

The sailor hurried off, and Maki led the wizards towards the hatch that led below deck.

"There's a guard post further north that we'll have to sail past," Maki explained, climbing down the ladder ahead of them. "It's their job to keep an eye out for illegal cargo—drugs, for example. Until we pass them, I'm afraid you'll have to stay out of sight."

The interior of the ship wasn't quite as dark as Zeref had expected, courtesy of a few well-placed, circular windows. Maki led them along a short, narrow corridor and pushed open one of the doors on the right.

"I apologize if it's a little cramped, but we thought this would make the best hiding place in case any of the guards come onboard. We do some trading in curios and antiques in addition to fabrics and dyes. This is where we keep them."

The two wizards stepped into the room and couldn't help but stare. They weren't sure what was weirder. Upon first glance, it was up between the monster skeleton carved of wood grinning at them from the far right corner and the twelve-armed coat rack with the screaming face.

"Uh, people actually buy this stuff?" Natsu asked before Zeref could stop him.

Maki didn't seem offended though.

"They do, and a lot of them will pay good money too—especially if a piece has a particularly interesting story." She tapped the side of a large, porcelain vase with what had to be more than a thousand spiders painted upon its sides. The polished surface pinged against her fingernail. "Take this vase for example. People say that sometimes, when the moon is full, you can see the spiders move, and they weave webs upon the porcelain that foretell a person's future."

Aside from the disturbing mass of extremely detailed arachnids, Zeref thought the vase appeared perfectly ordinary.

"I don't think it's actually magical," he said cautiously. It was not inconceivable that he was missing something here.

"That's because it isn't," Maki replied. "I've tried it several times myself. But it's the story that counts."

Okay, Zeref supposed he could understand that.

"There are plenty of places for a person or two to hide in here," Maki continued. "You should hear when the guard post is getting close. Meanwhile, please try to stay away from the windows, and we'll let you know when it's all clear."

After Maki had left and closed the door behind her, Zeref glanced around at the motley collection of bizarre antiques with a growing sense of misgiving. The spider vase that fortold the future might not have been magical, but several other things amidst this cargo were. To be perfectly frank, they were giving him the creeps.

"There's something here."

Zeref turned at the sound of Natsu's voice to find him glaring at several items gathered in a large, wooden dish. There were several small bottles that appeared to be made of crystal or thick glass, a tortoise shell comb, and a rectangular mirror set in a black iron frame.

"I don't know what it is," Natsu said, "but it feels evil."

Zeref joined him in front of the table and inspected the artifacts in question. Out of everything in the room, these were probably the most ordinary in appearance, but he knew what Natsu meant. Something about the items on the plate made him itch to throw them overboard. Unfortunately, they didn't belong to him and doing so would have been rude.

Although... it could be for the crew's own good.

"I kind of want to just destroy it all," Natsu muttered, "but I guess that would be wrong."

"Probably."

Zeref had to admit, however, that Natsu's suggestion was extremely tempting. Perhaps they could bring the matter up with Maki later.

.

When they heard the guards call out to the crew and the boat bumped to a stop, the wizards looked up from the book of fairytales. Natsu was learning very quickly. It was amazing what you could do with restaurant menus as a start. From what Zeref could tell, the dragon had been memorizing the overall shape of printed words and associating them with their edible counterparts in real life, so learning to read became largely a matter of breaking down those words into individual letters and sounds. After that, it was mostly about practice.

"They're getting onboard," Natsu said, listening intently. "Two of them."

Zeref glanced at the page number then closed the book and tucked it back into his travel bag.

"Are they coming down here?"

Natsu listened a moment longer then said, "Yeah, they are."

Zeref looked around at the jumbled mess of antiques.

"I'm not sure where Maki thought we could hide. Behind some of these boxes or under a table seems too obvious."

"Do you think inside that wardrobe would be too obvious?"

Zeref looked at the wardrobe. Its massive, woodendoors had been carved to resemble one gigantic, snarling face, and the front of it was crisscrossed with chains.

"Under normal circumstances, I would say yes," the wizard said. "But considering how it looks, I suppose it might work. Assuming we could actually get inside in the first place."

"Not a problem," Natsu replied, walking up to the wardrobe's left side. He ran his hand along the edges for a second then swung the entire wooden panel outward. "See? This bit's newer than the rest, and it doesn't even smell like the same kind of wood."

"I see." Zeref peered uncertainly into the wardrobe's dark interior. "I can't see anything. Is it empty?"

"Yeah. Can you tell if it's enchanted? It's got all these little markings along the edges of the door."

"It's not. None of those markings are real runes."

Natsu snorted. "It's stupid what humans do for the sake of appearances. Right. Better hide then. They're almost here."

The floor of the wardrobe creaked softly when Zeref stepped gingerly onto it and edged towards the other side. It smelled a little musty, but not nearly as bad as he had feared. Natsu had no sooner eased the hidden door back into place when the cargo room door swung inward. Maki's voice reached them first.

"And this is our storage area for antiques and curiosities. We apologize if it's not as well organized as the textiles."

An unfamiliar voice replied, "That's all right. We'll just take a quick look around, and then we'll be out of your hair."

The two wizards in the wardrobe held very still, not wanting the floor to creak again. There wasn't quite as much space inside as they had anticipated. If it had been anyone but Natsu next to him, Zeref would have been panicking already. Part of him wondered why he wasn't. If anything, the fact that they were standing so close that he could feel the warmth of the other's body was actually... kind of comforting, except that he didn't quite trust his own sense of security.

"These pots are very big," another unfamiliar voice said.

"Ah, those are some lovely pieces, aren't they?" Troy's voice rang with pride. "The master sculptor who crafted them mostly worked on busts, but when he lost his son to illness, he became obsessed with creating vessels for holding the souls of the dead. The images on the outside are supposed to represent the journey to the next life, but the real art is actually on the inside. Just give me a second to remove the lid and I'll let you have a look at them."

"Uh, that's all right. There's no need."

"Hey," the first unfamiliar voice spoke up. "That's a really nice ring. I've been looking for an engagement ring for my fiancé."

It was Maki who answered this time. "Oh, I'm sorry, that ring wouldn't be suitable if you want a happy engagement."

"What? Why not?"

"Supposedly, it drives anyone who wears it mad."

"Does it really?"

"We haven't tried it, but there are more than a dozen stories—"

"Which we really don't have time for," the second inspector cut in. "Although, if you don't mind me asking, should you really be selling something that dangerous?"

"Oh no, we're not selling that one," Troy said. "We're taking it to a wizard for an appraisal, then it's going to a museum in Crocus."

"Where nobody is going to try and wear it."

"Exactly."

There was a bit more chatter, and then finally, four sets of footsteps left the room. The wizards waited for a minute longer before Natsu turned and reached past Zeref's head to feel the wall.

"This has to be what, half the wardrobe? What do you think is in the other half?"

"Natsu, I don't suppose you could let me out before you keep looking?"

"Wait, I think this part slides up." There was a scraping sound as of wood across wood, then part of the wall next to Zeref disappeared. "Hey, reach over and see what's there, will you? I can see something dark."

Shifting around in the cramped space, Zeref carefully reached through the gap in the partition, feeling about in the darkness. His fingers encountered something with a very familiar shape.

"Natsu, there are several books in there."

"Yeah? Let's get them outside. I want a better look at what we found."

Now equally intrigued, Zeref carefully passed each book to Natsu, who opened the wardrobe and placed them on a clear patch of table. There were a dozen volumes in all, each one bound in green silk and devoid of any names or titles.

"These are research journals," Zeref noted, flipping one book open to a random page. "I think the writer was a historian."

"The handwriting looks like chicken scratch," Natsu said, making a face at the scribbles that crammed each page from edge to edge. "I can't read a word of it."

"It is pretty bad." Zeref turned a page. "From what I can tell, my guess is that the writer was studying old civilizations."

"Which is what history is mostly about," Natsu pointed out.

Zeref had to concede that that was true.

"These could be quite valuable though. I wonder if Maki and the others know about them."

"Well, you can tell her now. She's coming down."

"Just her?"

"Yup. Hopefully, it's to tell us that we can go upstairs now. Whatever they've got cooking up there, it smells great, and I'm hungry."


	14. The Third Passenger

"My great uncle was the original owner of that wardrobe," Troy said, rifling through one of the green-bound volumes. "He passed away last year at the ripe old age of a hundred and sixteen. In his will, he asked that someone take the wardrobe and throw it into the sea. That's why we have it, since we often do business in the seaport at the mouth of the Glass River. He told us all it was cursed, but I guess what he really wanted was to destroy these old research notes."

Troy and Maki had invited their two guests to have lunch with them in the captain's cabin, and the square table was littered with books and plates.

"Why though?" Maki wondered, leafing through another volume. "This looks like several years of hard work."

Zeref set down his teacup and sighed. "Perhaps he found something or recovered some piece of information that he wished to protect. Something that he thought was better lost."

Natsu glanced from Zeref to the books, polished off the last bite of his fish stew, and said, "Guess that means we should put them back in the wardrobe."

The trader and his wife shared a brief look of disappointment, but agreed.

"It was his will after all," Troy said. "Although it does seem like such a waste."

"I hate throwing things away," Maki said, shaking her head. "There's even a map in this one. It looks like it could be the area around Eden Lake."

"Maki..."

"I know. I'll stop looking now."

At the mention of Eden Lake, the two wizards exchanged startled glances. But they hadn't actually told anyone of their final destination, and so neither of them commented on the matter. With the knights and the dark wizard searching for them, it was probably safer for these people not to know.

"Speaking of things you have below deck," Natsu said instead, "there's something bad down there on one of the tables. You should really get rid of it."

At the couple's puzzled expressions, Zeref explained, "There were a number of crystal bottles, a comb, and a mirror. I can't say for sure, but I think the problem is mostly the bottles."

"Crystal bottles?" Troy repeated, a wrinkle appearing on his forehead. "Do we have something like that?"

"I might remember what you're referring to," Maki said slowly. "If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, we picked them up from a pawn shop some time ago. The faces carved into their stoppers were quite unusual, like the masks they use in some theatre performances."

"I could go get the tray if you want to see them," Natsu said, pushing his chair back and getting to his feet. "I could destroy them for you too if you want."

Troy rose as well. "I'll put these books back in the wardrobe."

After both men had left, Maki turned to Zeref and gestured at his teacup. "Would you like me to take a look at your future?"

He drew the cup closer to himself instinctively and stared at her. "What do you mean?"

She laughed. "No need to be so apprehensive. It's my hobby. I'm a fortuneteller. Reading the stars is more my specialty, but I find tea leaves more fun."

Zeref wrapped his other hand around his cup as well. "I would really rather you didn't, if it's all the same to you."

Maki's eyebrows shot up to meet her hairline. "I've never met someone so reluctant to hear some predictions about how life's going to go."

"I know how my life is most likely going to go," Zeref said. "I don't want to know if I'm right."

"Not if you're wrong?"

"I would like to be wrong, but I am very rarely wrong about things."

Bemused, Maki sat back in her chair. "You're a strange one, that's for sure. I've met people who don't care and people who don't believe in such predictions. I've never met anyone who thought he already knew."

The wizard dropped his gaze to the clear brown contents of his cup and the collection of dark, fragmented leaves on the bottom. He couldn't tell her that his life had looked pretty much the same for the past century. He couldn't tell her that it was only recently with the addition of Natsu to his life that he had begun to see any hope at all of change, and that half of him was still terrified at the prospect of allowing himself to hope at all. He couldn't believe yet, not completely, that he might actually have any sort of future.

Maki rested her elbows on the table and propped her chin on her clasped hands. The gaze that she fixed upon him was a little too sharp and a little too thoughtful for his peace of mind.

"When I got that letter from Amika," she said quietly. "I did a reading—to see if what she was asking would cause us all trouble. She's too kind for her own good sometimes. This time though... I didn't really understand what I saw in the stars. I still don't. But the gist of it, or so I believe, was that helping you could very well influence all of our futures. That somehow, the choices you make could affect how our entire world turns out. I don't know how that can be. But if it's true, I hope you think carefully about the things you choose to do."

Zeref said nothing. Her words made him feel cold, and he wished fervently that Natsu would hurry back. As far as the Black Wizard was concerned, he didn't want anything to do with the world's future, not anymore. He'd made enough of a mess of things already.

.

"What's that guy's problem?" Natsu grumbled. He didn't bother with the ladder this time, jumping down to the floor below and landing lightly on his feet. "If he gives me or my friend that annoying stare again, I'm going to break his nose."

"Please excuse him," Troy said, hurrying down the ladder after him with the books in a large bag slung over his shoulder. "The lad's lived a sheltered life. He's never met anyone like you two before."

"What, wizards?"

"Ah, no." The man flushed and cleared his throat. "Er, I meant, uh... I meant that the idea that two men can be romantically involved with one another is new to him."

Natsu frowned. "So? What does that have to do with us?"

Seriously, humans could be weirdly interested in other people's love lives.

Troy scratched the back of his head, now just as puzzled. "You and that boy, you're not lovers?"

"What gave you that idea?"

"Well, when we stopped by the feast yesterday, we saw—the way you were hovering over him the entire time, we just assumed..." The trader trailed off, embarrassed. "Sorry, it seems we were a bit too quick to jump to conclusions."

Troy changed the subject, launching into a speech about his beloved ship and the wizard shipwright who had designed it for him.

Natsu was no longer listening though. He had no interest in boats, and anyway, what the trader had suggested about him and Zeref was far more interesting. So that was how these people had interpreted their behavior, was it? His first reaction was amusement. Going back over the scene in his mind, he could see how they might reach that conclusion, since there were a lot of unusual circumstances involved that they couldn't know about. His second reaction, however, was thoughtfulness.

Natsu hadn't seriously started looking for a mate yet, although he was about the right age. Generally speaking, claiming a territory came first, and anyway, Natsu had never met another dragon that he would care to share his kills with, let alone spend his life with. It had never occurred to him before that he could look among humans for a potential partner. It wasn't completely unheard of—his father had told him of a friend of his who had fallen in love with a human woman and chosen to live with her as a human—but for the most part, humans were too fragile and too short-lived. That same dragon had been utterly grief-stricken when she passed away of old age and followed her soon after. Unlike that dragon's chosen mate, however, Zeref was immortal, and if what he had told Natsu was to be believed—and Zeref was, overall, a very truthful person—his body was difficult to injure and quick to heal. That meant that he was neither fragile nor short-lived. Of course, it was a bit of a downside that he wouldn't be able to bear Natsu any children, but then Natsu wasn't all that interested in having offspring anyway.

Natsu had already decided that he was fond of Zeref's company, and he'd caught himself thinking on a number of occasions that the human was rather adorable—which was unusual, since Natsu had mostly thought of humans as somewhat funny-looking creatures. Scanning through his own memories of their time together so far, the dragon could say quite honestly that, aside from the first few days, he hadn't experienced any great irritation at the thought of having to share his meals with the boy. Of course, some of that was just the dragon's unwillingness to watch another living creature starve, but that had only been the case at the beginning. Natsu also couldn't deny that he did indeed feel rather protective of the dark-haired wizard, and that he had no intention of parting ways with him even after this whole curse business was sorted out—and it wasn't just because he knew that Zeref would be lonely. Natsu's reasons were more selfish than that.

Huh, the idea was worth considering.

"Here we go," Troy said, opening the cargo room door and weaving his way through the clutter to the wardrobe. "I'll just put these back."

Natsu went over to the table where the crystal bottles had been, but stopped short when he spotted the wooden plate. The bottles that had been on it were gone. He couldn't sense them at all, which meant they were no longer in the room. There were, however, very faint traces of a familiar smell, and he had to bite back a growl.

Amika's warnings might have come just a little too late.

"Did you find them?" Troy asked, following the direction of his gaze.

"They're gone," Natsu said shortly. "Let's go back. I need to check on something."

The very confused trader followed Natsu out of the room and down the hall. Rather than immediately head up the ladder, however, the dragon wizard paused before one of the ship's round, glass windows. It was very faint—hardly noticeable if he hadn't been searching for them—but he could see several needle-thin scratches in the wood, as though something sharp but extremely narrow had scraped past. The smell was stronger here and unmistakable.

.

Zeref looked up expectantly when the cabin door opened, but his relief at seeing Natsu was cut short by the stormy expression on the dragon wizard's face.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned.

Natsu didn't waste time beating around the bush. "That dark wizard, she was here—or at least one of her paper things was. Those weird crystal bottles are gone too, and I'm sure she took them."

Zeref's heart sank. Of course she'd caught up with them, and at a monumentally terrible time. This was why he should never travel by boat.

"You don't mean the dark wizard Amika mentioned in her letter," Troy said, his voice loud with alarm. "But we haven't let any strangers onboard for weeks aside from you two."

Natsu replied grimly, "You wouldn't have had to. She usually sent these enchanted paper things to do her work for her. It would have been easy for her to sneak a spell onto your ship. She could have done it any time she wanted."

No one knew for certain when the dark wizard had escaped. For all they knew, she could have caught up with them days ago and just worked hard to stay off their radar.

"What should we do?" Maki asked, worrying at her lower lip in a manner that made her look very much like her sister.

"If she's looking for us, it would probably be better if we got off this ship," Natsu said, glancing at Zeref to see what he thought of this.

"That would probably be best," the other wizard agreed, rising to his feet. "We can't fight here. Are you certain that she isn't onboard?"

"I can't say for sure. Can you sense her?"

Zeref closed his eyes and let his awareness spread outward—only to recoil a second later with a grimace. This ship was so laced with spellsthat the whole thing practically blazed. In addition to all the magic in the wood, there were all the enchantments attached to various objects and people. Much of the magic felt benign, but almost just as much was tainted with malice or simply undistinguishable. Of all the things these people had to collect, why did they have to choose artifacts of questionable origin? If the dark wizard was any good at concealing herself—and they knew from experience that she was—then there was no way he would be able to locate her amidst this chaos.

"We may have to search the ship more carefully," he said, opening his eyes again. "There's far too much interference."

"I'll get the rest of our crew together above deck," Maki said, standing as well. "Troy, you know this ship best, so if you could go with them and keep an eye out for anything that's out of place?"

Her husband nodded and steppedback out of the cabin,adjusting his coat as he went. Zeref seldom paid much attention to what people wore—or what they looked like for that matter—so he hadn't noticed until now that the vivid blue fabric was sewn with rows of brass disks. He had assumed that they were decorative buttons or badges, but upon closer inspection, they were all bespelled. There were charms against sickness, charms against injury, charms against evil and trickery, and even what looked like it might be a charm against hair loss from the design etched into the burnished metal. Zeref didn't have the heart to tell him that all those charms together wouldn't make the trader any more safe if the dark wizard attacked him. If they helped the man feel more courageous, then perhaps that was a kind of magic too.

.

Natsu let the other two walk ahead of him before following, keeping an eye on their backs. That dark wizard sure had lousy timing, he thought with some annoyance. He had some major thinking to do here, and the dark wizard was getting in the way.

Natsu surveyed the deserted riverbanks before letting his gaze settle back on Zeref. The boy was wearing the gray cloak Natsu had gotten him, although the hood was currently down and pooled in loose folds about his slim shoulders. He was walking straighter, Natsu noted, which meant that he was focused and not feeling overly anxious. That was one good thing at least.

Back below deck, Troy led the two wizards from room to room, unlocking each one for them so they could inspect their contents. They left the rooms that served as sleeping quarters for the other crew members as quickly as possible, not wanting to infringe more than necessary on their privacy. They had reached the last of these when they found the first sign of something wrong.

"Toji?" Troy knocked on the door. "Toji, we just need to come in for a moment. I'm opening the door now."

He added to the wizards as he selected the right key on his key ring," Poor man hasn't been feeling well. We thought he caught a cold after falling into the river a couple days ago."

He lowered his voice when he opened the door. "Toji? We'll just be a second."

The body on the right hand cot groaned.

"Captain?"

"Yeah, it's me. Are you feeling any better?"

The lump on the bed groaned again, which was answer enough even without his reply. "I think I feel worse, captain. I might really need to see a healer this time."

"Don't worry. We'll find you a healer in the next town."

The man coughed, the sound rattling in his chest, and he turned to give his captain a weak smile. "Thanks."

He looks horrible, Natsu thought, startled.

Toji had the hollowed out look of a man who had lost a great deal of weight very quickly. His skin was unhealthily pale and hung a little too loosely from his frame to be normal. Combined with the exhaustion that lined his face, they made him look both weatherworn and old.

For a moment, Troy's face froze with shock before he could school his expression into something more comforting.

"Just get some more rest," the trader said carefully. "And give a shout if you need anything. I'll send someone to check on you again before dinner."

When the door of the room was closed once more and they were back out in the hallway, Zeref asked, "When did you say he fell ill?"

"I don't really remember," Troy replied, obviously shaken. "Only a few days. I had no idea it was this bad. He looks like he's aged ten years!"

Zeref's lips thinned, and Natsu realized with some surprise that the wizard was growing angry. It was the first time Zeref had been truly angry about anything since they'd met. Natsu wondered what was going on here on this ship to provoke such a reaction and was about to ask, but just then, the people above began to shout.


	15. Battle in the Fog

Emerging back on deck was like climbing into another world. Somehow, in the half hour they had been below, a dense fog had swept over the river and surrounded the ship. Everything beyond the sides of the ship was shrouded in white, and even the blaze of the sun had been reduced to a dull gray pallor. However, this was not why people were screaming.

Ribbons of parchment etched with glowing lines of orange light flailed through the air like snakes. They lashed around sailors' legs, tripping them, and slashed at unprotected faces with their razor sharp edges. When their victims wrapped their arms around their heads to shield their eyes, the paper serpents sliced through their sleeves and the skin of their arms instead. The wounds were not deep, but they were deep enough to draw blood. A few of the men and women had kept the presence of mind to draw daggers or knives and swung wildly at the flying paper tags, attempting to sever them or at least drive them away from their bodies. Mostly though, their attempts were futile. When one did manage to slice a paper snake in half, the halves that fell to the deck only writhed about and went for their feet instead.

"Damn it!" Natsu snarled and charged into the fray, fists blazing. Any paper serpent unfortunate enough to become his target caught fire and turned to ash almost at once, but there were just too many of them and Natsu had to be careful not to hurt the sailors or scorch the ship.

Zeref dispatched a batch of paper snakes that swarmed towards him with a fire spell of his own, then ducked back against the side of the captain's cabin. With his back against the solid wooden wall, he could survey the battle and protect himself at the same time. He needed to locate the dark wizard controlling these things if they wanted to stop them from harming the crew. He knew that the dark wizard could send her paper minions quite some distance away from her, but to call up such a dense fog around them and maintain it this way, she had to be nearby.

"Maki!" Troy bellowed and sprinted past him.

Zeref fought down the urge to look. He had to concentrate. He couldn't let the fight going on distract him. Natsu would handle that.

There.

Gathering a ball of raw energy in his hand, Zeref threw it at a spot just ahead and to the right of the ship's prow. The attack struck something invisible, and the air above the water warped and rippled. When the distortion resolved itself, a thin woman with a waterfall of black hair stood upon a thin sheet of paper that hovered just above the river's surface. Her trailing white gown made her look like a ghost against the mist. For some reason, her too-red lips were curved upward in a smile despite the fact that he had just discovered her hiding place.

"You certainly are quite a wizard, aren't you?" she said, her voice carrying clearly over the din.

"Your quarrel is with my friend and me," Zeref told her, another spell gathering power in his palm. "Stop attacking this ship."

Again, Shelsy—if that was even her real name, which he doubted—surprised him.

"I could do that," she said amiably. "But I have a condition."

Taken aback, Zeref took a long second to answer. "Which is?"

"I want to talk with you," she said.

"We're talking now," he pointed out, but she only laughed.

"Not here. Somewhere without your Dragon Slayer friend."

Reading the suspicion and indecision in his eyes, Shelsy's smile widened and she waved one slim, pale hand. A white envelope flittered up into the air and across the intervening distance to settle at Zeref's feet.

"I've put the details of where and when in that envelope," she said. "And to show my sincerity, I'll call off my spells. Although... seeing as I am a dark wizard and you were the ones who arrested me once, I'll just take one of these people as... insurance. I have some additional business with her anyway."

Zeref had been looking down at the envelope, but at her last words, he jerked around to look back at the battle. Natsu was busy ripping writhing strips of paper from the badly injured body of a sailor who had practically been cocooned by the vicious things. Most of the crew looked little better, but at least they were all still on their feet and struggling.

Her, Shelsy had said. Additional business? Wait, Shelsy had seen Amika back in Aulia, hadn't she?

Realization dawned just as a flock of paper snakes swirled together behind Maki, who had a long knife in her hands and was expertly slicing up the paper serpents flying at her face. One moment, the space behind her was a swarm of writhing white and brilliant orange runes. Then Shelsy—or a thing that looked very much like Shelsy—was standing behind her and tilting a small crystal bottle over her head. Zeref wasn't sure if he imagined the shadowy droplet of liquid that fell from the seemingly empty bottle to land in Maki's chestnut hair, and then suddenly, the fortuneteller went lax. Her arms fell to her sides and the knife dropped from her abruptly limp fingers. She didn't look frightened or surprised though. Instead, her eyes had glazed over in a manner that Zeref couldn't quite identify yet struck him as oddly familiar.

"Maki!" Troy shouted again, but he was still several paces away and surrounded by his own private whirlwind of paper serpents.

The copy of Shelsy behind the trader's wife smiled in much the same cold, pleased way that its counterpart upon the water smiled. Then she wrapped her arms around Maki's unresisting form and stepped back, both of them melting away into the fog that billowed forward over the ship's railing to welcome them.

.

"But why?" Troy's voice cracked with anxiety and anger. He made an effort to get up from where he sat against the ship railing nursing his bandaged arm only to fall back again with a grunt, the dizziness from lack of blood getting the better of him. "What could that witch possibly want with my wife?"

Zeref looked away from the trader's tortured gaze, but that left him staring instead at the droplets of blood that splattered the wooden planks. True to her word, Shelsy had called off her paper snakes, and the fog around the ship was beginning to dissipate. Natsu and two of the less injured men had moved the worst of the casualties to the blankets that another sailor had hastily spread on a cleaner section of the deck. A few of the crew members with a bit more medical knowledge had been placed in charge of administering first aid where it was most needed.

"I think... she might want revenge," Zeref said. "Maki and Amika look almost identical. She may have confused them for one another, or she may simply want to get at Amika through her sister."

Perhaps he shouldn't have been so blunt with the truth, Zeref thought when Troy let out a half choked wheeze. The man had to be worried sick, but then that was precisely why Zeref felt he deserved the truth. Lies only ever provided a fleeting illusion of comfort.

"She wants to meet me though," Zeref continued, "so I don't believe that she will kill her."

"Is that what that envelope's about?" Natsu asked, joining them at the side of the ship. He was unhurt, but his vest was stained with ash and other people's blood.

"Yes." Zeref hesitated, glancing at Natsu's face, then added, "She wants me to go alone."

Natsu scowled. "No way."

"Natsu, I think it would be wiser to do as she asks for now. I promise that I will look after myself."

The dragon wizard's scowl only darkened further, but for now, all he said was, "So what's in the envelope?"

Zeref pulled a piece of paper from the envelope in question and unfolded it. The handwriting upon it was flowing and full of elaborate flourishes.

"It says to stop the ship at the next bend in the river. From the western shore, we should be able to see a forest. Once I reach the trees, there will be markers to show me the way. If I'm not there at sundown, she won't guarantee the hostage's safety."

"That Incense Wood," Troy spoke up, grasping the ship's railing and heaving himself to his feet. "Will... will you go?"

Wrapped in the question was a plea that the wizards couldn't really well ignore. These people had been trying to help them after all, and they had to deal with this dark wizard sooner or later.

"I will go."

Troy nodded and began calling out orders to his crew, preparing to get the ship back on course. Although he didn't say thank you, his gratitude was obvious on his face.

When the trader was gone, Natsu turned back to Zeref with a glare.

"You're not going without me."

"Natsu, you told me yourself that you aren't supposed to harm humans unless you really have no choice. We might have to kill her, and here, you do have a choice."

Natsu raised an eyebrow at that. "I thought you were really bothered by ending lives."

"It upsets me," Zeref agreed, "but it upsets me also when people are selfish and cruel. I have the feeling that this wizard has already lived more than her fair share of time."

"Her fair share of time," Natsu repeated, frowning. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That I doubt she is as young as she looks."

Natsu mulled this over for a moment then said grudgingly, "Fine. I'm not happy about it, but you do have a point. Still, I'm only going to wait an hour. After that, I'm following you, and you can't stop me."

"All right."

There was no point in arguing further about this. Besides, if Zeref was really gone for more than an hour, something had very likely gone wrong. That, or the spot where Shelsy wanted to meet him was very, very far into the woods.

Zeref took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it out slowly before sitting down against the railing that the trader had just vacated. Natsu sighed and sat down next to him, folding his arms behind his head and watching the crew at their work.

"You sure you can fight all right?" he asked after a moment of silence. "Maki will be there too, remember?"

"I remember." Zeref closed his eyes and rested his head back against the side of the ship. "Please make sure no one disturbs me."

"Yeah, sure, but why?"

"I need some time to put myself in a suitable mindset."

"Which means what exactly?"

"It means that I am schooling myself to think about all this from a purely logical standpoint. We need these people's assistance. It is to our advantage to save her and to get rid of this dark wizard before she can harm us. If I do not become too emotionally involved, my magic will be easier to control. On the other hand, it also means my magic will be weaker. The true power of a wizard's spells comes from the strength of that wizard's emotions. A wizard who feels nothing will never be able to accomplish as much as a wizard who cares."

"I don't like that you have to do this to yourself," Natsu said, the scowl returning to his face. "This is important. People might die. You should care."

"And I do," Zeref replied, lowering his head. "Which is why I need to convince myself that I don't."

"That's messed up."

"I know."

Natsu grunted but said no more, setting himself to making sure that none of the crew wandered too close to them. He didn't care for these kinds of mind games. In that way, humans and human lives were annoyingly complicated.

Natsu glanced sidelong at his companion's face, shadowed by a fall of black bangs. Then again, he had found Zeref himself to be, at heart, a very simple person. So maybe it was human society and the way most people chose to live in it that made everything complicated and convoluted.

.

Maki knew she should be frightened. She sat with her back against the trunk of what had once been a gigantic tree. Most of the tree had been destroyed by fire years ago, but a good section of its base remained, spanning more than five meters in diameter. Maki could smell the old, charred wood like an unpleasantly pungent perfume and feel the rough bark through the thin fabric of her shirt, but she couldn't bring herself to move.

The earth was slightly damp beneath her hands, and she curled her fingers into the dirt, but she couldn't find the strength to do any more than that. The dark wizard was right in front of her, muttering under her breath as she prepared a new batch of paper serpents. The woman hadn't even bothered to tie Maki up.

Part of Maki wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation, but most of her was just tired. There wasn't any point in running anyway, not really. There was no way she could outrun this wizard and her spells. And so she sat and watched and wondered why she couldn't find it in herself to care that she might very well die here.


	16. The Weight of Despair

As the sky darkened, the temperature plummeted. Natsu was generally unaffected by changes in the weather, but he could tell that it was supposed to be cold because most of the humans had put on scarves and heavy jackets.

Zeref, on the other hand, had left his new cloak neatly folded on top of his travel bag by the door of the captain's cabin. From where Natsu stood balanced on the ship's railing, he could pick out the slender figure of his companion rapidly vanishing into the trees, his dark hair and clothes making him blend in to the shadows.

One hour, Natsu thought. He sort of regretted promising to wait that long. Patience was not really one of his virtues.

"Tell me more about these woods," he said, directing his words to the trader captain. "Anything special about them?"

Troy scratched his chin. "Special? Don't know if I'd call it special exactly. Mostly, it's famous because its trees and a lot of its other plants emit very strong and unique smells. That's why it's called Incense Wood. Perfume makers visit the place a lot, and some spice traders too."

Natsu wrinkled his nose. So that was why the breeze around here stank so badly.

In the distance, Zeref paused just beyond the first line of trees then turned and headed left.

"Any kind of path to the left?" Natsu asked. "He just went that way."

"You can still see him from here?" Troy asked, astonished.

"Yeah, I'm a Dragon Slayer, remember? My senses are better than a human's."

Troy shook his head. "Magic can do some amazing things."

Natsu didn't comment. It wasn't magic, but he didn't feel like trying to explain.

"I don't believe there is a path that leads left," Troy continued after a moment's thought. "There was a wildfire here awhile back, and large parts of the forest were badly damaged. Many of the routes through the area were closed off and never reopened since no one's had the time or resources to clear those paths of debris."

Right. Of course the dark wizard wouldn't stick to the regular roads.

Natsu folded his arms across his chest and made a mental note of the direction in which Zeref had disappeared.

Fifty-six minutes.

.

The thin sliver of paper flitted through the air in front of Zeref like a lopsided and rather ugly firefly, its body glimmering with tiny orange lights. He followed it at a distance, picking his way carefully over fallen branches and around unruly patches of tangled vegetation. He had called up a light of his own to illuminate his way, a point of cool golden radiance that hung suspended above his open palm.

All around him, Zeref could sense traces of the same magic that animated his guide, resting amidst leafy branches and draped amidst the brambles. In his head, he imagined that the place was full of snakes, the orange markings upon them temporarily quiescent as they watched him pass. A wild forest in the middle of the night was a good place to conceal a paper army. He wondered what Shelsy intended to do with them, or if all those dormant spells were just a precaution.

Well, she wasn't taking him lightly anyway, that was for sure. Zeref had the feeling he knew what she wanted to talk about.

The only thing that concerned him was what had been in those crystal bottles. Some kind of paralysis magic?

Forty-five minutes.

Shelsy had made her camp in the middle of a burnt out clearing before the remains of what had once been a giant of a tree. A small fire burned in front of her stooped figure, and she was feeding additional leaves and twigs into it as he approached. For its size, the flames were generating an inordinate amount of smoke, and the smell of it was a sickening combination of sweet and bitter.

Zeref lingered amidst the trees, surveying the situation. Maki was sitting propped against the giant tree trunk a decent distance beyond the campfire. She didn't appear to be unconscious, although she wasn't moving or making any attempt to escape either. Even if Zeref distracted the other wizard, it didn't seem as though Maki would be able to run. He really did have to be careful then, and to be safe, he should keep as much distance between them as possible.

"So you did as I asked after all," Shelsy spoke up suddenly, breaking into his thoughts. "Not that it matters, I suppose. I've taken measures to make sure your Dragon Slayer friend won't be able to track us down too easily. It's difficult to fool a Dragon Slayer's nose, but it's not impossible. You learn a great deal, living for as long as I have. Or should I say as "we" have?"

Shelsy straightened and met his gaze over the flames, her eyes glittering with curiosity. "You're a little like me, aren't you? You look young, but you're not."

Zeref met her gaze with a cold stare.

"The sailor who fell ill," he said, "I assume that's your doing."

Shelsy laughed, sweeping an elegant hand through her gleaming black locks. "Most men are ridiculously easy. Some women too. A few soft words and a smile, maybe a dance, and they don't even notice if I skim off a few years."

"That doesn't mean that it's okay."

Shelsy shrugged, gaze never leaving his face. "If they knew how, plenty of people would do the same. Who wouldn't want to stay young and beautiful for a while longer? Of course, judging from your reaction, you do things differently."

"You want to know why I haven't aged."

"That's right." Her lips curled in a smile that did not reach her eyes. "It's hard work, keeping myself in such good shape. If there was an easier way, I'm all ears."

"Knowing wouldn't do you any good," he said.

There was the quietest flicker of a spell on the edges of his consciousness, but he was prepared for that. Zeref was used to other wizards trying to read his mind and shielding his own thoughts and memories from such invasions was second nature.

The tiniest of frowns crossed Shelsy's face, but she smoothed it away almost at once.

"No? Then how about this." She inclined her head towards Maki, but didn't turn to look at her. "You tell me what I want to know, and I won't take any of her years in payment for my troubles. Or you could give me some of your time instead. You look like you have plenty to spare. I wonder how much longer that would give me?"

The corners of Zeref's mouth tugged downward in grim disdain.

"I'm not here to bargain," he said. The mage light he had been using faded and was replaced by wisps of gathering shadow. "I can't do anything about the lives you've already taken, but I can stop you from taking any more."

Her gaze grew incredulous and she laughed. "So you came to kill me? Really? Now that is unexpected, but I suppose it makes things easier. That just means I'll get both your years and hers. Just try not to die too soon. I've got no use for corpses."

Her last words were nearly lost in the rustling cascade of paper tags that whirled out of the darkness amidst the trees. They swarmed towards Zeref only to burst into flame just before they could reach him. Burning fragments fell like dead leaves to the earth around him, but he didn't shift his gaze to watch them. On his way here, he had woven a fire spell around himself like a shield. He'd gotten the idea from watching Natsu fight and was unsurprised by its effectiveness.

The smile faded from Shelsy's face and her eyes narrowed.

"So you can use Fire Magic too."

Zeref lifted the crackling black energy in his hand. "I can use a lot more than just Fire Magic. I will say this once. Either you turn yourself back in to the Rune Knights, or you die here."

Shelsy sneered—anger, hate, and scorn twisting her delicate features into something ugly.

"Don't mock me," she hissed. "I haven't lived this long to let one self-righteous wizard decide my future."

Zeref had expected as much. At least she couldn't say she hadn't been warned.

The first sphere of black energy struck a wave of paper serpents and vaporized them, showering the ground with dust. Every spell he threw at her cut large swaths through her defenses, even those paper tags that she had reinforced with magic against decay and fire. Shelsy's eyes widened a fraction, but she'd walked the earth for too long to let such a thing surprise her. So maybe the boy who was not really a boy had more destructive magic than she had predicted. That was all right. It wasn't the first time she had fought someone more powerful than her.

.

Thirty-six minutes.

Natsu's eyebrow twitched. They were fighting, he could sense it, and—damn it, but he wanted to be there. Did he really have to wait the entire hour?

The dragon wizard shifted his weight restlessly from foot to foot. Now that he thought about it, an entire hour did seem rather long. So much could happen in just one hour.

He knew that Igneal thought they should interfere as little as possible in human lives, but Natsu currently looked like a human, so where did that put him in all of this? There was no telling how long it might take for him to break this curse. As long as he was stuck living as a human, didn't that mean he kind of had the right to be involved?

Thirty-four minutes.

If something like this happened again, there was no way Natsu was promising more than half an hour.

.

Zeref had expected that he would have to lure his opponent away from Maki, but to his surprise, Shelsy was the one who left the clearing first, vanishing in a whirl of paper and orange light. Zeref dismissed the power he had gathered in his hand and took a moment to scan the area, sorting through all the traces of magic amidst the trees for his enemy.

Why had she moved? It had to be a trap, but what kind?

Oh well, no matter. He would deal with it when he found out. Being immortal had sort of desensitized him to danger.

It was probably a good thing that Natsu wasn't here, a small voice in the back of his mind mused. Zeref's tendency to be careless with his own wellbeing would probably drive the dragon crazy. For some reason, this thought made him feel warm, and so he quickly shoved it away. He couldn't afford such feelings right now.

Zeref finally caught up with his opponent beside a narrow stream. She stood facing him, ankle-deep in the shallow water, and she held a small crystal bottle in her hands. Zeref kept one eye on that bottle while he threw up the barrier spell he'd been putting together while he tracked her magical signature, blocking off any further chances of escape.

Shelsy's gaze flickered to the side when the barrier spell flared into life, stenciled upon the air between her and the trees, but she didn't allow that to distract her. Instead, she pulled the stopper from the bottle and poured its contents out in an arc before her. The ghostly liquid splashed across the ground and into the river, trickling outward across the dirt and up along the trunks of nearby trees. Zeref glanced down at it, more curious than startled. It didn't appear to be a paralysis spell after all, since he'd prepared a counter spell for that. So what—?

The effects hit him like a heavy fist in the gut, and he stopped breathing for a moment. All the colors faded out of the world around him, and even the gurgle of the stream seemed to go nearly silent. Had the night been this cold before? His hands felt numb, and even the air seemed too heavy.

He... knew this feeling.

So that was what was in those bottles. Huh, he wouldn't have thought of that.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shelsy grit her teeth, the hand holding the bottle clenching so tightly that the knuckles turned white. She'd infected the entire area rather than trying to target him specifically, so she was dealing with the effects too—except that he could see the water of the stream carrying away wisps of translucent gray substance from about her feet. She would probably be free of it in a matter of minutes thanks to the current.

"I see," he said, more to himself than to her. "I suppose most people would find it difficult to put up much of a resistance this way."

Shelsy laughed, although it sounded more like she was being strangled. "I was surprised to find these on that ship. I knew the wizard who made them, you know, about fifty years ago now. He was a miserable, spiteful soul by then. How does the saying go? Misery loves company."

And leave it to a wizard to find a way to bottle up that despair so that it could be spread around.

"It's not a bad plan," Zeref replied after a moment, "but unfortunately for you, you miscalculated."

"What?" Shelsy narrowed her eyes. The intensity of the emotion was wearing off for her, and she was standing straighter.

She would be ready to start her own attack again soon, Zeref thought. But it wouldn't do her any good.

"It was a good plan," he repeated, the shadows about his feet beginning to stir, "but I'm far too familiar with this feeling. True despair... is not something that mere magic can recreate."

.

Eleven minute.

Right, Natsu was done with waiting. He'd been plenty patient already, and anyway, he was almost certain the fighting had stopped more than ten minutes ago.

He jumped down from the railing and headed for the gangplank.

"Wait!" Troy called out, hurrying after him. "Can—can I come with you?"

Natsu started to saythat he didn't think that was a good idea,but changed his mind partway. It was Troy's wife that was really in danger here, and if no one was fighting anymore, then it was probably safe... More or less.

"All right," he said, "but if I tell you to run or something, do it. It's for your own good."

Troy nodded and grabbed an oil lamp from the deck by where the more seriously injured crew members were still resting. "Of course."

Walking into these woods was exactly like walking into a perfume and incense shop. The air was saturated with sweet and smoky scents. The dark wizard was seriously underestimating his tracking skills, however, if she thought this would make it impossible for Natsu to follow them. It wasn't easy to pick out one scent from the chaotic mess of smells, but Natsu had hunted for his own meals since he was old enough to fly. Tracking the scent of someone he had been traveling with for weeks was child's play.

They found Maki first. Troy ran forward the moment they spotted her, and Natsu didn't stop him. The dragon could tell that neither Zeref nor the dark wizard were in the clearing, although there was a small campfire that was emitting a large amount of foul smelling smoke. The trees along the edges of the clearing looked rather the worse for wear. Most of their leaves hung in tattered shreds and broken branches littered a ground that was streaked with pale dust.

Certain that the trader would look after Maki, the dragon turned his attention to locating his friend. He could smell death on the wind mixed in with everything else, so it was probably better that neither of the humans followed him anyway.

Natsu spotted the dead trees before he saw the wizard responsible. Zeref sat on the bank of a stream with his head down. Despite the darkness, Natsu could pick out traces of black mist still lingering in the air. It wasn't the first time he had seen the dark-haired wizard like this, and he was fairly sure that it wouldn't be the last.

.

That presence.

Natsu.

Zeref jerked his head up, turning towards the approaching wizard.

"Stay back! Don't—don't come any closer."

There weren't any leaves left on the trees around him to block out the sky, and his eyes had mostly adjusted to the dim illumination from the moon—enough so that he could see Natsu pause several paces away.

Natsu said nothing, but his mouth was set in a hard, grim line. Instead of bothering with Zeref's warning, he took a step forward and then another. When he reached the outer wisps of shadowy magic, he held out his hand, waving it through the black mist.

Zeref stared in open horror, waiting for the arm to begin withering or experiencing decay. He expected the hand to become something skeletal, something worn out and dead. But... there was nothing. Natsu walked through the fog of black magic and sat down next to him, taking Zeref's hand and lacing their fingers together.

"I told you that I would be all right," Natsu told him. "You had to learn to believe me sooner or later."

Zeref stared down at their fingers, still in shock, but the hand holding his felt as real and ordinary as it appeared. He was not hallucinating.

"You... really aren't affected by it?"

"That's right. So stop freaking out around me, all right? Let me help you with this. You don't have to do everything alone."

Natsu smelled his tears before he saw them.

"If Maki or any of the others had been killed," Zeref said quietly, "it would have been our fault because they chose to help us even though they didn't have to."

"Yeah."

"Yet none of them blame us for what happened. And they've chosen to keep on helping us. They told us before I left the ship that we're expected back onboard by morning."

"I know."

The two of them fell silent.

"Natsu..."

"What?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For caring enough to worry."

Natsu sighed and rubbed his thumb along the underside of Zeref's wrist. The boy had relaxed, but Natsu could feel him shivering now that everything had settled down. The night really was quite cold.

"Idiot, you should have brought your cloak."

"You got it for me, and we still have a long way to travel. I didn't want to fight in it."

Speaking of fighting, Natsu inclined his head towards a spot partway down the stream. "Is that her? I was expecting... more remains."

The only things left of the dark wizard now were a scattering of worn, bleached bones that looked as though they had been lying in the stream for decades.

"I did say that she has lived more than her share of lifetimes," Zeref said. "She was stealing other people's lives to prolong her own. I suppose that was part of her arrangement with the villagers too. Judging from the state of those bones, I think she might even have been older than me."

"Older than you, huh?" Natsu's mouth quirked, some of his earlier seriousness evaporating. "You make it sound like something strange. I've known plenty of people older than you."

Zeref's brow furrowed. "You're a dragon, and most of the people you know are probably dragons too. That doesn't count."

"Why not?"

Zeref opened his mouth then shut it again. Why couldn't it count?

"I don't know," he said finally. "It just seems as though it ought to be different."

Which was, Zeref had to admit, a pretty terrible answer. Sometimes, it seemed as though humans spent most of their time drawing lines in the sand, never realizing how easily those lines could be erased or how little those lines really meant.

After another moment's thought, Zeref added, "No, you're right. It should count."

And it was strange to suddenly realize—really, truly realize—that this person sitting next to him was not going to simply disappear in a hundred years or so. He... really wasn't alone anymore.


	17. Small Changes

The four crystal bottles stood in a neat row upon the tabletop. They appeared to be empty, but the four people gathered around the table in the captain's cabin knew better.

"I had no idea that it was possible to put emotions into bottles," Maki said, rubbing at the goose bumps on her arms. Remembering that all-consuming despair still made her skin crawl, and she was just glad that the effects had worn off. She never wanted to feel that way again.

Her husband shook his head. "Like I've always said, it's incredible what magic can do."

"Terrible might be a better word," Maki replied. "Judging by the design of the stoppers, I assume this one's despair, that one's grief, and the others are anger and fear. At least that's what those masks tend to represent in theatre performances. We should probably destroy them. I can't imagine any good coming out of keeping them."

"I agree," Zeref said, reaching for the teapot to refill his cup.

The warm tea was making him drowsy, but the act of drinking it was keeping him awake. He and Natsu had slept in the woods the night before, but he was still tired despite the break. Yesterday had been stressful, and even though he had been angered by the dark wizard's actions, faced with the bones in the river, he couldn't help but wonder if he had really had the right to kill her. Considering Shelsy's goals, he supposed his own actions could loosely be construed as self defense. But still, who was he to judge whether another wizard had the right to live or die? After all, wasn't that what Shelsy had done too? Decided when other people would live or die? What made his decisions any more right or valid than hers?

"You did the right thing," Natsu had told him after listening to these thoughts. "She would have hurt a lot more people if you hadn't, and anyway, she was trying to kill you. Just because you know she couldn't have done it doesn't make it less self defense. The fact that you're thinking this way at all is what makes you different from her."

Zeref supposed that that was one way of thinking about it, although at the same time, how much could you really differentiate between a person's motives and a person's actions?

Maki sighed. "I suppose miserable people do sometimes get annoyed when other people aren't miserable. I'm not surprised that someone decided to make these."

"That's just stupid," Natsu said after wolfing down half the plate of bacon that the ship's chef had prepared for them. "If the guy was so miserable and he had the power to bottle up emotions, why didn't he just bottle up some happiness for himself? Seems like it would have been a better use of his time."

The humans around the table considered this and had to concede that it was a very good point.

"I suppose," Zeref said slowly, "that it's because magic can only do so much. If you know it's magic or if you've ever felt the real thing, you can tell that the emotions aren't real."

"I'm guessing we shouldn't just throw them into the sea with my uncle's wardrobe?" Troy said, the statement lilting up into a question as he looked at the two wizards.

"No," Zeref said. He glanced at Natsu, who nodded, then added, "But we could probably destroy them for you."

"If it would be a lot of trouble..." Maki started.

But Natsu interrupted her with a grin, "It's no trouble at all. I'm really good at destroying things, even things that have been enchanted. We'll just take those with us when we go and get rid of them once we're far enough away from your ship."

"So the two of you are sure you don't want to travel with us awhile longer?" Troy asked.

"Yeah, we're grateful for the help, but we talked it over and decided that it would be better to skip the next couple towns."

As Natsu said this, Zeref took out their map and showed it to the trader and his wife.

"It looks like Incense Wood covers a good section of the western riverbank. We thought we'd run into fewer people if we took a detour through there and returned to the river at Sage Town."

"But isn't that kind of out of your way?" Troy asked, measuring the distance with his eyes. "If you're headed to the mountains, sticking to the main road will save you weeks of travel time. Those woods can be really tough going."

Natsu shrugged. "We know, and it's not a problem."

In truth, neither wizard felt in a hurry anymore. What was a few more weeks in the grand scheme of things?

Maki leaned over the table to examine the map as well. "In that case, Sage Town is a good choice if you plan to cross Eden Lake. A lot of cruise ships that take tourists around the lake set sail from there. Actually, sailing's the only easy way around that area. Large sections of the lake shore are rocky and rather mazelike. Did Troy tell you about the shipwright who built this ship for us?"

"He did," Natsu said, although he hadn't been listening and honestly couldn't remember a word of it.

"Well, his name is Remi, and he does a lot of work with cruise ships. We'll write a reference letter for you—in case you need a ship to hide on. He's very skilled with spells for safe journeys, including spells for concealment."

Zeref wasn't sure if they would need such a reference letter, but all the same, he said, "Thank you. We would appreciate it."

.

They left the trader's ship by noon, taking the bottles of negative emotions with them along with a list of plants that Troy had told them could be found only in Incense Wood and sold at decent prices once they got to Sage Town. From the edge of the trees, they watched the colorful vessel grow smaller and smaller as it sailed away. Since the wizards were no longer onboard, the ship's crew had slowed its pace considerably, so it would be awhile before it actually vanished from view.

"Ready to go?" Natsu asked, turning away from the sight and inspecting the path that the trader had suggested they follow. Supposedly, it wasn't used much by visitors to the woods anymore, but it was still in relatively good condition.

"I am." Zeref shifted his travel pack on his shoulders and pulled the hood of his cloak up over his head.

But first, they chose a patch of dirt relatively free of vegetation, and Natsu destroyed the crystal bottles and their contents. The blackened earth would probably not be the same for quite some time, but that was a small price to pay for getting rid of something so hazardous.

All in all, it wasn't a bad way to get back on the road.

Honestly, it was nice to be traveling alone together again. They would enjoy it while it lasted.

.

Seen by the light of day, Incense Wood turned out to be unexpectedly beautiful, due in no small measure to its wide variety of unusual plants. Even though it was early summer, most of the foliage had taken on autumn shades of red, orange, gold, and a dark greenish purple that, together, made Zeref think of sunsets and late afternoon skies.

"You're getting poetic on me," Natsu said, amused. "This place might look special, but it smells awful."

"Does it?" Zeref asked, consulting the book that Maki and her husband had given them. "It says here that the unique fragrances of many of these plants are very popular. People make perfumes, incense, and scented candles out of them. In fact, it's not just the plants here that are famous for unique smells.

"Yeah? Like what?"

Zeref turned a page and answered, "Well, like this ferret-like creature. Its fur is supposed to smell like oranges. Apparently, people like to use its coat to make scarves and line winter coats."

Natsu snorted. "I'm more interested in what it tastes like."

Zeref scanned the text next to the sketch then turned another page. "I... don't think there's any information about taste. Although that probably means that it's not worth eating."

"Not worth eating, huh? Guess we'll find out for ourselves if we meet one."

Zeref lowered the book, bemused. He had the feeling that the fate of any animal that ran into them in these woods was to be eaten by Natsu.

Or, as it turned out, to be eaten by both of them.

Zeref had just settled down for the evening in the clearing where they had decided to make camp that first night when something large, furry, and most definitely dead was dropped in front of him. The pale gold, ferret-like animal was almost as large as a mountain lion, and it stared balefully at him through glazed, unseeing eyes. Zeref stared back, startled and maybe just a bit disturbed.

"Natsu...?"

"Eat with me."

"But I'm..." Zeref glanced up at his companion's face and trailed off, unsure how he was supposed to interpret the look Natsu was giving him. It was a searching, intense, calculating sort of expression, and somehow, Zeref was seized by the inexplicable feeling that declining would be the wrong thing to do. He didn't understand it, but somehow, he felt that it would be a mistake. So instead of explaining that he really wasn't hungry like he would have in the past, Zeref found himself saying simply, "Okay."

Natsu appeared satisfied with this response and set about skinning his catch while Zeref built up the campfire.

The creature did—not—taste like oranges.

This puzzling routine continued—with the spotted doe the day after, the fluffy flying squirrel creature that Zeref sort of wished Natsu hadn't killed, and the many-legged lizard thing that Zeref really, really didn't want to try but turned out to be unexpectedly tasty. After he expressed this opinion, they had many-legged lizard a lot, and he was accumulating a respectable number of the lizards' silver-white teeth, which the book claimed was highly prized by jewelers. Why anyone would want to wear jewelry made from lots of teeth, Zeref had no idea, but it meant they ought to be able to exchange them for a decent amount of coin when they ended up back in civilization.

After two weeks of this, Zeref began to get used to it, although he still occasionally got the feeling that Natsu was trying to tell him something that he wasn't understanding. Zeref wondered now and then if he should ask Natsu to explain himself, but since the dragon didn't seem particularly bothered by his lack of comprehension, he never quite got around to it. He was too content with the way things were to start questioning it.

It wasn't until halfway through their third week in the woods that they ran into any other travelers.

"Help! Somebody, help!"

The shouts grew louder and louder until a man came pelting down the forest path past them in a whirl of waving arms and flapping sleeves, then grew softer and softer again as the man disappeared from view. The wizards barely had time to exchange confused looks when a massive, dark brown bear came roaring down the path after the stranger. When it saw them, it reared up onto its hind legs and bellowed, displaying glistening rows of sharp, white teeth. Natsu growled back, baring his own fangs, and the bear fell silent, startled. It shut its mouth and eyed the two new comers warily as though trying to determine if it was angry enough to keep going. Its black eyes moved from Natsu to Zeref then back to Natsu, at which point it appeared to decide that attacking them would be a bad idea. It fell back onto all fours and turned, padding quietly off back along the path and into the trees.

"Well, that was weird," Natsu said after he was sure the bear had truly gone.

"I wonder if he knows the bear has stopped chasing him," Zeref said, glancing back over his shoulder in the direction that the stranger had gone.

"Don't know. He didn't seem hurt though, so he'll probably be okay."

Natsu had no sooner said this when there was another burst of yelling in the distance. The wizards exchanged bemused looks before turning around and heading back the way they had come to investigate.

They found the stranger clinging to the bough of a tree while an angry, many-legged lizard snapped at his ankles. The moment the gray-blue lizard spotted Natsu, it hissed and sped into the underbrush, vanishing with a flick of its long, tapered tail.

"Are you all right?" Zeref asked, calling up to the man in the tree.

Blue eyes peered down at them from behind rectangular spectacles. "Is it gone?"

Natsu answered him, "Yeah, it's gone. Pity. Haven't seen one that big in days."

"Thank goodness," the man said with a relieved sigh. "I was afraid it was going to take a bite out of me. My sincere gratitude for scaring it off."

Carefully, the man climbed down to the ground and brushed a few leaves from his long, rust red coat. A boxy contraption hung from a cloth strap around his neck, and he checked this over diligently before returning his attention to his rescuers. Straightening, he adjusted his spectacles on his thin nose and smiled at them.

"I'm so glad to meet other people in these woods. You wouldn't believe how long it's been since I've spoken to another human being. This is wonderful! Maybe you'll be able to help me find what I'm looking for. Are you very familiar with this forest? I've been lost in here for days. Have you ever heard of the Midnight Garden?"

Natsu raised an eyebrow and Zeref sighed. It looked like their peace and quiet was about to be placed on hold.

.

Xander couldn't have been happier. He'd been wandering aimlessly through Incense Wood for what felt like forever, and he didn't have forever to waste here.

"I'm looking for a place called the Midnight Garden," he told the two strangers who had rescued him from the strange lizard with too many legs. "It's a garden that blooms only once a month by the light of a full moon, and only for one minute. It'll be full moon tomorrow! I have to find a flying squirrel by then."

"Why?" the dark-haired wizard asked, puzzled by this leap in reasoning.

"Flying squirrels supposedly make their home in that garden," Xander explained. "My grandmother told me that when she and Grandfather came looking for the Midnight Garden, they found it by following a flying squirrel."

"You mean the really fluffy, silver ones?" the other wizard asked.

"That's it!" Xander exclaimed excitedly. "Does that mean you've seen one?"

"Uh, yeah... We ate it."

"You... what?"

"Ate it," the wild-haired wizard repeated. "It was a bit stringy, but not too bad."

Okay, so maybe Xander wasn't so happy after all.

He was even less happy when the two wizards produced a fluffy, silver squirrel skin from their packs. Xander was a strict vegetarian for a reason.

"I could probably track one down for you," the wild-haired wizard said after a brief reexamination of the silver pelt. "If you're in that much of a hurry."

Xander opened then shut his mouth. He looked at the animal skin and thought of the poor creature it had once belonged to. Then he thought of his grandmother, who was bedridden and yearning for a sight of the place where she had fallen in love.

"If you would," he said, "I'd be eternally grateful."


	18. The Midnight Garden

"My grandmother used to tell me the story all the time when I was a child," Xander said from his seat on the opposite side of the campfire. "My parents passed away when I was quite young, you see, so she basically raised me along with my grandfather."

Natsu settled back against a tree to listen, although he was more focused on watching Zeref than inspecting their new traveling companion. Zeref had seated himself as far as the clearing allowed from Xander, and Natsu had chosen a spot next to him close enough to touch. The dragon was pleased to note that Zeref no longer shied away from him. The realization that Natsu really wasn't at risk from his magic plus two weeks of Natsu deliberately not keeping his distance, and Zeref's constant, anxious wariness seemed to have mostly dissolved. That was good, because the tentative plans that Natsu was laying for the future would never work if Zeref was constantly in danger of becoming a nervous wreck just because Natsu got too close to him.

"When my grandmother was young, she dreamed of becoming a painter. But paints are expensive and she knew her parents couldn't really afford to keep buying them for her, so she found ways to make her own. Incense Wood was where she gathered most of her materials."

Xander sighed and fidgeted with the box-like contraption hanging before his chest. "She always hoped that I'd turn out to be a painter too, but I've got no talent for it... Anyway, my grandfather was an apprentice at a perfume maker's, and they ended up meeting here when he was sent to find supplies. It turned out that even though they both loved it here, neither of them were brave enough to really explore this place alone. They were also both, ah, kind of unlucky, which didn't really help."

Natsu recalled how Xander had raced past them earlier in a screaming blur of limbs and fabric with a furious bear in hot pursuit and suppressed a snort. If the young man's grandparents were anything like him, then that wasn't too hard to imagine.

"When Grandmother turned twenty-one, a huge earthquake hit our town. Both her parents were killed. She was so upset that she ran into these woods and forgot to pay attention to where she was actually going. And, well, you've seen how vast Incense Wood is and how peculiar its animals and plants can be. She got lost. When she still hadn't returned after three days, Grandfather—although, of course, he wasn't my grandfather yet at the time—came looking for her. It was lucky he did, because it turned out that she'd twisted her ankle running from a citrus ferret."

Both wizards thought of the pale golden ferret pelt in their packs. The animal hadn't tasted too bad, although not all that great either. A little bit too tough with a strangely smoky undertone.

Xander continued, oblivious to their musings. "Grandfather's not, ah, really that athletic, and Grandmother's not exactly, ah, delicate. But he refused to leave her on her own to go back for help. It took them forever to make it back to town, and they got lost several times on the way too. That was when they saw it. The flying squirrels, I mean, and the garden."

Xander sighed. "Grandmother said that it was like a miracle, all those flowers suddenly blooming in the darkness like a sea of stars for them to wish upon. Up until that point, she didn't think she'd be able to keep on living in a town that held so many memories for her. But seeing that garden, it made her fall in love with the world again."

"That doesn't explain why you're looking for this mysterious garden," Natsu pointed out.

Xander dropped his gaze to the mossy ground in front of him. "My grandfather... he passed away recently, and Grandmother's been sick ever since. I'm... hoping that if I can bring back a picture of that garden for her, she'll get better. I know it's kind of a long shot, but... it's all I can think of now. The doctors said that she's just been so depressed, and that's why she's not getting any better. I want to remind her of when she made the choice to keep on going, of a moment when she was happy. I mean, she's still got me, right?"

Neither wizard commented on this. It might be a long shot, but it wasn't totally illogical. And anyway, they could hear the desperation that had crept into the young man's voice.

Zeref turned a page of the book open across his lap, dividing his attention between the text and Xander. After a moment, he gestured at the device in Xander's hands.

"What is that? I can sense magic in it."

"Oh, this?" Xander lifted the box a little. "A friend of mine is working on developing them. I'm what she calls a photographer. This picture box lets me copy images of things I see onto this specially treated paper."

Xander opened the satchel he had been carrying and showed them the stack of paper inside.

"I'm nowhere near the artist my grandmother is, but this way, I don't have to be."

Since she couldn't go to the garden, he would bring the garden to her.

.

"So what do you think?"

Zeref shut his book and asked, "Of what?"

The campfire had burned down to mere embers, and Xander had long since fallen asleep on his side of the clearing, facing away from them.

"Of the garden he's looking for. Do you think it's real?"

Zeref glanced at the thin young man on the other side of the fire and said, "I don't know, but I hope so. If it does exist, it must be a spectacular sight."

He gave a start when Natsu suddenly reached out and brushed a lock of dark hair out of his face.

"Natsu?"

For a second, there was a strange intensity in the dragon's eyes that sent an odd tingle up his spine, but the look was gone so quickly that Zeref didn't have time to really think about it. Maybe he'd imagined it.

"I was just thinking that it's kind of funny that humans have hair," Natsu said.

Zeref's brow furrowed. "Why?"

"Because dragons don't have hair."

"Oh." Well, that was certainly true. Although, for the first time since they had begun traveling together, Zeref had the feeling that the dragon wizard wasn't telling him everything.

"So," Natsu said, changing the subject, "what was all that about stars to wish upon? Is that some kind of human custom?"

"More of a human superstition," Zeref replied, weighing the closed book absentmindedly in his hands. "Some people think that if you make a wish on a shooting star, it'll come true. Of course, if it was that easy to grant our wishes, this world would be a very different place."

"A better one?" Natsu asked, curious.

Zeref hesitated then said, "No. What people want and what's good for them are often not the same thing. And to be honest, I think we often don't know what we really want. It's too easy to make wishes without thinking them through and without really understanding ourselves. Then there are some wishes that are best remaining as just wishes."

The Black Wizard sighed softly then asked, "Are you sure you can find one of those squirrels for him? We haven't seen any after that first one."

Natsu shrugged. "We haven't seen any, but I've smelled them around. They seem to really like those purple trees we run across now and then. If we find some of those first, it should be no problem. Those trees give off a pretty distinctive odor themselves, so it shouldn't be that hard."

"I see. I suppose that shouldn't be too difficult."

Hopefully, the photographer wouldn't be disappointed.

"Oh, by the way, Natsu, I think we may want to stick with eating the provisions we already have for the time being. He seems... distressed by the prospect of hunting."

Natsu snorted. "Yeah, I noticed. Not sure how anyone survives by just eating vegetables, but fine."

"Vegetables are very important. They're good for you."

"Yeah, well, I'm a carnivore, thank you very much."

"Who likes to eat chocolate cake."

"There is that," Natsu conceded. "I didn't say other foods were bad, I just think meat is an important part of my diet."

The corners of Zeref's mouth twitched upward into a faint smile. "Actually, I have heard that eating only vegetables can, in fact, be bad for people if they're not smart about it."

"See?" Natsu looked smug. "So I was right."

There was a pause then Natsu added, "You planning to sleep at all tonight?"

Zeref glanced back at the third occupant of the clearing and sighed. "No."

"Thought you might say that." Natsu shook his head but didn't try to persuade him otherwise, saying instead, "Tell me a bit more about these human superstitions, will you? Most of the ones I know are about what's bad luck."

"My knowledge might be a little out of date," Zeref said.

"That's okay. It's still interesting."

Besides, talking would help keep them both awake.

.

The next morning found the three travelers making their way carefully through the trees away from the main path. It turned out that a great many of the plants in these woods were edible, and Xander was a walking encyclopedia on the subject. Unfortunately, he seemed to care a lot more about nutrition than flavor.

Breakfast had been punctuated by snatches of conversation that ran something like, "This bluish green grass is full of vitamins and often used in salads."

"It tastes like grass."

"Well, yes, I suppose it does, but it does wonders for a person's digestive system."

"It still tastes like grass."

The sun had already passed its zenith when Natsu pointed out a silver fluff ball perched amidst the uppermost branches of a tree. The creature was about the size of a fat rabbit, although most of that mass was its loose, soft fur.

"Get ready to run," Natsu said as they approached. Sure enough, the moment they came within ten paces of the tree, the squirrel took off.

Natsu bolted after it, and the other two followed, struggling not to lose sight of him. By the time they finally caught up with him, the dragon wizard already had the flying squirrel in his hands. The poor animal was stiff with terror, its dark eyes wide and its whiskers quivering.

"Don't hurt it!" Xander cried, rushing forward.

Natsu rolled his eyes and shoved the animal into the photographer's arms. "I wasn't going to."

The fluffy bundle didn't struggle, just turned its head to keep its stare on Natsu as Xander gently stroked the top of its head and back.

"I'm so sorry," the man said softly to it, cradling it like he might a baby. "We don't mean you any harm. Please don't be frightened."

Zeref touched Natsu's arm and said, "Perhaps we should move back."

"Why? I already promised not to hurt it."

"I think that your expression may lack conviction."

That was a bit of an understatement really. Zeref rather thought that his friend was looking at the squirrel creature like he was thinking about how little he had eaten so far that day and how much meat was on its bones.

The wizards wandered some distance away into the trees then turned to watch Xander coo and fuss over the petrified squirrel creature. Zeref doubted that the creature actually understood a word of what the man said to it, but it could probably sense his sincerity. It took awhile, but eventually, it stopped trembling and relaxed. The wizards saw it peek over the photographer's shoulder at them, but it didn't flee. Instead, it climbed about Xander's arms and shoulders, poking its nose into the many pockets of his rust red coat. It found a handful of red berries that Xander had picked earlier and perched on top of his head like an absurd, silver hat to nibble on them.

"I've been thinking about what you said about the trees with the purple leaves," Zeref said, flipping to a page in the book on Incense Wood and showing it to Natsu. "Do you think it's possible that it's related to this plant?"

"That looks more like a bush than a tree," Natsu said, examining the small ink sketch. Feathery leaves sprouted along the plant's thin branches, dotted here and there with clusters of flowers like tiny stars.

"That's the interesting thing," Zeref said, pointing to a section of the text. "It says that these plants, if carefully cultivated, can be encouraged to grow into many different forms. If left untended, they tend to take on similar characteristics to the plants around them, but can be distinguished by a distinctive, maroon hue to their leaves."

Natsu considered this. "Okay, I can see that. Since this is a forest, it grows into a tree. Is that important?"

"It also says that few people ever get the chance to see their flowers because they bloom only at night and only when there is enough moonlight."

Ah, so that was it. Natsu's expression clear, and he turned to inspect the woods around them.

"So you're thinking that somewhere around here, there's a place with a whole lot of these special plants, and that's where we'll find this garden of his? If that's the case, we don't really need that flying squirrel. The smell of those trees is obvious on the wind around here. It's too bad I don't have my wings. I bet it would be a cinch to spot from the sky. Wait here for a second."

Natsu selected one of the taller trees nearby and, with a running jump, swung himself up into its lower boughs. Zeref watched anxiously as he climbed up towards the top. Most of the branches up there looked far too thin to support a man's weight. Sure enough, the dragon stopped only about two thirds of the way up six meters or so from the ground when a branch snapped in his hand. The sound of Natsu swearing drifted down to Zeref followed shortly by Natsu himself jumping to the forest floor.

"It's no use," he said, plucking bits of bark from his clothes. "I can't get high enough, and there aren't any of those super tall trees we saw before in this area. Guess it'll have to be the squirrel after all."

Zeref looked back at Xander, who was laughing as the creature swished its fluffy tail in front of his face. "If so, I suppose he doesn't need our help anymore."

Taken aback, Natsu frowned and asked, "You don't want to see it? I thought you were curious about the garden too."

Zeref dropped his gaze and fidgeted with the metal clasp of his cloak. "I would like to see it, but—"

Natsu didn't let him finish. "Then we'll stick with him and go see it. We can watch from a distance, just in case."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's a garden. I'm sure it'll be just as impressive from afar as it would be up close. Besides, we're already here. It would be ridiculous to just walk away now."

The squirrel danced from Xander's left shoulder to his right shoulder then scurried down to his feet where it paused. It craned its head back so it could peer straight up into the man's eyes, flicked its tail, then darted off. Xander waved at the two wizards, his narrow face bright with excitement, then hurried after the fluffy, silver shape rapidly disappearing amidst the trees.

"Come on." Natsu grabbed Zeref's wrist and started after them. "It's almost evening."

.

It was a good thing that it was flowers and not animals that they were hunting, Natsu thought wryly. With all the noise Xander made crashing through the woods ahead of them, anything with legs would have long since run away. Of course, Xander didn't have the luxury of Natsu's night vision, so it wasn't his fault that he couldn't avoid all the brambles, ferns, and other plants that grew close to the forest floor.

Zeref stayed close to him as they walked. He had made no attempts to pull away, so Natsu was still holding onto him, although he'd shifted his grip from the boy's wrist to his hand. Natsu had never really paid attention before to how different their hands were. Natsu had done almost as much fighting in his human form as he had in his dragon one, and his hands were a map to the battles he had fought and the work that he had done. In contrast, Zeref had the hands of someone who had done very little manual labor, smooth and slender despite the fact that he had lived out in the wilderness for more than a hundred years. They were evidence of his unnatural immortality rather than markers of the kind of life he had lived. Natsu wondered if the rest of him was the same way.

All of a sudden, Xander tripped over something and vanished from view with a yelp. Zeref pressed closer to Natsu, straining to see through the darkness.

"Looks like the ground slopes down really sharply up ahead," Natsu told him, tightening his grip on the other wizard's hand. "I think we've found it, if the smell is anything to go by. Right, stop there."

Zeref stopped. "Is he all right?"

"Don't know." Natsu raised his voice and called down the slope, "Hey, Xander, you all right down there?"

A groan drifted up to them followed by the rustle of leaves and fabric. Xander extracted himself from a bed of knee-high plants and pulled several stray leaves and twigs from his hair.

"Where did the squirrel go?" he called back up to them, which probably meant he wasn't badly hurt.

Natsu scanned the vast clearing sunk into the earth and the trees that lined its sides.

"It's gone."

"Gone?" Xander wailed. "But—but that can't be. There's no more time! What am I going to... going to..."

His voice died down, and there was a sharp intake of breath.

The wizards didn't have to ask why he'd gone quiet.

A little ways in front of the photographer, something had begun to shine. It started as just a glimmer, like a flicker of light reflected upon water, then steadied and grew until it acquired a distinct shape against the dark background of leaves.

The flower glowed as though it had been spun of light, end yet its petals were semitransparent like glass. Xander reached a hand out towards it, but stopped short of actually brushing its shining, translucent form. Atop the slope, the wizards could hear him murmuring to himself in wonder.

"Am I dreaming?"

As though that first ghostly blossom was a signal, the entire clearing began to come alive with light.

.

Zeref had seen many unusual and some amazing things in his life, but even so, the Midnight Garden was, indeed, spectacular. Flowers bloomed in the darkness before them like splotches of glowing paint applied by invisible hands upon a shadowy canvas. White flowers like lilies, glimmering bluebells like clusters of tiny blue lanterns—each unearthly blossom was its own work of art. It wasn't just in the clearing either. Here and there amidst the surrounding forest, shimmering flowers could be seen like stars caught in woven nets of slim, leafy branches.

It seemed that the world could still surprise him after all. Surprise him and take his breath away.

"Now that," Natsu said beside him, "is a garden."

Zeref murmured his agreement, suddenly very aware of the fact that Natsu was still holding his hand. He didn't allow himself to think too much about it though. It was nice, and he didn't want to ruin the moment.

"hey," Natsu said suddenly, "didn't he say that these flowers only bloom for one minute?"

Zeref thought back to what Xander had told them. "He did."

"If he doesn't hurry up then, he won't get his picture."

Zeref glanced down the slope at Xander, who appeared lost in his own private reverie. Natsu was right. If the man stayed frozen, he was going to miss his chance. At the same time, it seemed wrong to disturb him.

Zeref hesitated then asked, "Could you get me one of those papers he has? One of the blank ones."

"Yeah, sure."

Natsu let go of him with some reluctance and made his way down into the sea of flowers. Reaching the photographer's side, he tugged a blank piece of the magically treated paper from the stack peeking out from the man's satchel and returned to hand it to Zeref. The dark-haired wizard took a few careful steps back so he could see more of the garden then sketched a few glimmering symbols in the air that drifted gently down onto the blank page. For a second, the entire paper glowed with a faint, pale light not unlike the glow of the flowers around them. When the light faded, the image left upon the page was that of the Midnight Garden with Xander's standing to one side amidst the blossoms, his back to the viewer.

"Does it matter that he's in the picture?" Natsu asked, examining it over Zeref's shoulder.

The shorter wizard shrugged. "This paper copies what a person sees. I can't avoid seeing him if he doesn't move. In any case, I would imagine that some kind of picture is better than no picture."

"True."

It was too bad that Xander was too preoccupied to take a picture for them too, Zeref thought. Then again, he didn't need a picture to remind himself of this particular memory. A picture wouldn't be able to recreate the smell of cool leaves and damp earth—or the warmth of the arm Natsu had put around his shoulders. Nor would it be able to capture the swell of emotions that rose in his chest and tugged at the back of his throat.

Zeref turned away from the garden when he saw the first flower begin to fade and forced himself to breathe deeply.

"Shall we give him some privacy?" Natsu asked.

Zeref nodded, and they moved away from the edge of the clearing.

"We could just leave now," Natsu added, "but he'd probably get lost looking for the path, and I assume he needs to get back to his grandmother as soon as possible."

Unfortunate, but true.

"Perhaps we should eat the rest of that bread Maki gave us," Zeref said when he felt like the air was flowing freely through his lungs again.

"Good idea. It's not the best bread I've ever had, but it definitely beats eating grass."

Zeref managed a chuckle at that. "The grass was pretty awful."


	19. A Gift of Ivory

"Are you following us?" Natsu demanded, rounding on the bespectacled photographer. The man had been trailing after them since they'd broken camp that morning, which was when the wizards had expected that they would part ways.

"I am not!" Xander exclaimed, affronted. "This just happens to be my way home."

Natsu scowled, not wanting to believe him. After all, what were the chances of that?

"You never told us where you were from," Zeref said, trying to be more diplomatic. It wasn't the man's fault that they hadn't been expecting company.

Xander sniffed and adjusted his spectacles on the bridge of his nose. "Since you ask, I live in Sage Town. It's the largest town between here and Eden Lake, located just past where the lake feeds into the Glass River."

Right. That was not what Natsu wanted to hear. Unfortunately, he could tell that the human was telling the truth, and there wasn't much they could do about that. They were stuck with him until they got back to civilization.

"Fine," Natsu grumbled. "But don't expect me to go on being a vegetarian just to humor you."

Xander blanched but sighed. "I suppose I should thank you for humoring me this long."

"Yes, you should."

Zeref was starting to get a headache. He hadn't slept at all in two days, the sunlight streaming through the foliage overhead was starting to feel too bright, and Xander was far too talkative. When he wasn't telling the two wizards about his life, he was talking to himself, wondering about his future, his grandmother, and even his own wonderings. To put the ice on the mountain, Zeref thought that the mushrooms he had politely tried some of when Xander offered them that morning were disagreeing with his otherwise empty stomach.

Ugh, he just wanted to lie down under a tree somewhere and close his eyes.

"We're taking a break."

It took several seconds for Natsu's declaration to register through the fog in Zeref's mind. When the words finally made sense to him, he stopped and looked at the dragon wizard, confused.

"But it's not even noon yet."

Natsu didn't reply, just pushed Zeref ahead of him off the path and into the forest. Although he hadn't been invited, Xander trailed after them. The man was saying something about wanting to get home soon, but neither wizard was listening to him. When Natsu judged they were a decent distance from the main path and wouldn't be seen by any passersby, he chose a spot under a large, particularly leafy tree and tugged Zeref down with him.

"Go to sleep," Natsu told him, then directed a glower at Xander. "As for you, either shut up for a few hours or go on ahead without us."

Xander's mouth fell open in surprise, and for a few blessed moments, there was silence except for the twitter of birds in the distance.

Zeref was too glad for the respite to argue.

When Natsu was sure that the boy had dozed off, he fixed his gaze back on Xander and said, "He hasn't slept in two days, and we've been running all over these woods. He needs the rest."

The photographer found his voice again. "Two days? But that's... Why?"

"Because," Natsu said, choosing his words with care, "he has some problems with his magic that could put you in danger. It's especially dangerous when he's just waking up since people have the least control over their own thoughts and emotions then."

"But he could have said—"

"It's not something that it's easy for him to talk about," Natsu said, cutting him off. Catching the guilt on Xander's face, he added, "It's not your fault. It's just the way things are. But if you don't mind, I could use a nap too. It would be best if you went over to that white tree over there. That should be a safe enough distance—if you don't want to continue on by yourself. You might as well take a break too."

Xander dithered for a moment, looking between the two wizards, then closed his mouth, nodded, and walked away in the direction of the tree with the white bark. Natsu waited until he was certain that the photographer wasn't going to turn back, then he settled down and rearranged the wizard sleeping against him so that they were both more comfortable.

.

When Xander reached the white tree, he seated himself gingerly amidst its roots and pulled the picture of the garden out of his satchel to examine for the umpteenth time. To be honest, it had turned out better than he had hoped, and every time he laid eyes on it, he felt an upwelling of gratitude that the wizards had thought to capture the image for him. They had helped him a lot, and all simply because he had asked.

It hadn't occurred to Xander that he might be causing them trouble. All of his attention had been directed towards finding the garden for his grandmother, and he hadn't spared a thought for anything or anyone else. Now that he had the picture in his hands, he was sorry that he hadn't realized it earlier. Hell, he didn't even know the dark-haired wizard's name, and he only knew the wild-haired one was called Natsu because he'd heard the other wizard address him so.

His grandmother would have been disappointed by his lack of manners.

Carefully stowing the picture away once more, Xander glanced back towards the other tree in the distance. He blushed and quickly looked away again. The dark-haired one was curled up against the other wizard's chest with his head resting against the other's shoulder. Natsu had wrapped an arm loosely around him and had his nose in the boy's hair. It was an unexpectedly intimate position, and Xander wondered at how blind he must have been not to have noticed how close they were before.

"I really am an idiot, aren't I?" Xander asked no one in particular.

Well, his grandmother always said that realizing your own mistakes was the first step to improvement. He couldn't just go on ahead like Natsu had suggested because, let's face it, he needed all the help he could get to make sure that he returned home in one piece and didn't worsen his grandmother's condition by giving her a heart attack. But he refused to let himself be a burden.

.

Zeref felt a little embarrassed to wake up in Natsu's lap. His cheek was pressed against the other's shoulder, and he could smell the faint odor of smoke and ash that lingered about the Fire Dragon's clothes. He couldn't remember if he'd fallen asleep that way or if it had happened sometime while he was dreaming. No wonder he was so warm. When had he let his guard down so much? Did it matter really?

His sudden tension woke Natsu. The dragon wizard stifled a yawn then asked, "Feeling better?"

Zeref nodded without opening his eyes. He couldn't decide if he wanted Natsu to keep on holding him or let go. He also wasn't sure if he should say anything about it.

At the moment, he wasn't sure about a lot of things.

"We should get going then," Natsu said. "You humans don't do so well in the dark, and it'll be night soon."

Zeref nodded again, and the dragon let go of him so he could stand up. Zeref discovered that the answer to his own earlier dilemma was that no, he did not, in fact, want Natsu to let go. But they really should get going and Natsu didn't comment on how they had woken up, so Zeref decided not to say anything either. It had probably just been an accident anyway.

Xander joined them a moment later and offered them a formal bow.

"I want to apologize," the man said solemnly. "I've been very rude, and I never meant to cause any problems for the two of you. Please, if there is anything I can do to repay you for all you've done to help me, don't hesitate to let me know."

The effect was slightly ruined by the leaf stuck to the back of his head, a patch of dark yellow against the pale yellow of his hair. Both wizards stared at it with some amusement until Xander straightened and faced Zeref.

"Excuse my lateness in asking, but what should I call you?"

Zeref hesitated. It didn't seem like a good idea to go sharing his real name, not with the knights stepping up their search and a new purpose to his traveling.

"Era," he said finally. "Just Era will be fine."

.

The few days before they returned to the main road along the Glass River were pleasantly peaceful. True to his word, Xander did his utmost not to burden them. This included being quiet once in awhile, making camp a suitable distance away from them, and not voicing his objections when Natsu went hunting. He did throw up the first time he saw Natsu skin and gut one of his kills, but after that, Natsu went elsewhere to prepare his meals and Xander strived not to notice the increasing number of animal skins being added to their packs. As Zeref had pointed out, at least they weren't wasting any of the animal.

When the woods began to thin and the river came into view, they were surprised to find the road full of wagons, horses, and people.

"It must be a festival day," Xander told them, a wide smile breaking out across his face. "We have a huge festival in Sage Town once a month that people come from all the nearby villages to attend. You see those colorful wagons? A lot of craftsmen around here use those when they come to sell their wares. It's practically a trademark of the Sage Town festivals."

"It looks like people have already started buying things," Natsu said, watching several people move away from one of the wagons with their arms full of paper-wrapped packages.

"That's another aspect unique to our festivals," the photographer explained. "See, we like to keep track of what's being sold and who visits, so the lines of people waiting to get into the town can get rather long. So long, in fact, that people often start to do their shopping while they wait."

"And that's supposed to be a good thing?"

"Well, maybe not good exactly, but you have to admit that it's unique."

Zeref tugged his hood lower over his face and pulled his cloak closer about himself. He knew he must look a little strange considering the summer sun beating down on them, but it was better than being recognized.

"You hungry?" Natsu asked, falling back to walk beside him.

"Not really," he replied. His stomach was too full of butterflies—the rowdy, unpleasant kind with too much energy and razor-edged wings.

"How about something small? Or something to drink? It'll give you something to do so you're not just standing around being awkward and uncomfortable."

Natsu had a good point.

"Okay. Anything you think smells good is fine."

"Hmmm."

Natsu's gaze swept along the queue as they made their way along it towards the back. The carts selling food and drink were easy to spot. Not only did they enjoy the largest number of customers, most of them had their specialty dishes painted larger than life upon their sides.

"Duck sandwiches? That's new. Fruit shake, all-greens salad—I'm not eating any salads for the next month. The fried chicken smells good. Kind of large portions though..."

They were so focused on choosing snacks that they had almost reached the end of the line before they noticed that they had lost Xander. So while Zeref joined the people waiting before a cart selling baked sweet potatoes and candied yams, Natsu doubled back to search for him. The dragon didn't have to walk far before he spotted the photographer's long, rust red coat.

"Hey, Xander, we're buying baked sweet potatoes. Did you want some?"

"What?" Xander looked away from the rows of pendants hung from neatly woven loops of cord upon the side of the wagon, which itself was painted in shades of blue and swirling patterns of gold. "Oh, I would, thank you. Give me a minute. I'm just making a purchase."

Natsu stopped beside him, following the direction of his gaze. "What are you buying?"

"He's looking over my charms, dear," the old woman whose wagon it was explained, smiling kindly at the young man with the spiky, salmon-colored hair. "My prices are very reasonable, and I can do custom orders too."

"You sell charms?" Natsu asked, surveying the many items swinging from their small, brass hooks. There were little figurines made of porcelain, pendants carved of stone, woven symbols of thread, and even shapes that had been carved from ivory. The workmanship on several of the charms was extremely detailed and quite impressive, although it was the simpler ones that really caught Natsu's attention.

While Xander muttered to himself on the pros and cons of different charms, Natsu gestured at a round, white disk and asked the old woman, "Can you tell me about this one? It's ivory, right? I've never seen ivory this pale before."

"That one?" She reached up and unhooked the pendant in question, handing it over to him. "Feel free to take a closer look. I came across that piece of ivory some years ago in a seaport. I believe the seller told me it washed up on shore during a storm, and they never did discover where it came from. The sea holds many secrets after all. Believe it or not, the shape was the ocean's doing, not mine, and the grooves upon its surface—you can feel them if you run your fingers lightly across it. They reminded me of an old symbol for luck, and so I enhanced them a little and made the whole thing into a pendant."

Watching Natsu turn the pendant over in his hand, she added, "Are you looking for a gift for someone?"

Natsu hadn't been, but now that she'd mentioned it...

"Yeah, I am."

Back by the sweet potato stand, Zeref glanced anxiously in the direction Natsu had gone. Aside from the fact that he'd rather avoid interacting with the salesman, Natsu had all their money. If he didn't return before Zeref reached the counter, things were going to get awkward.

Thankfully, when there were only two customers left in line in front of him, he glimpsed both Natsu and Xander weaving their way through the crowd. Zeref breathed a sigh of relief and stepped aside so Natsu could join him before the counter.

While the salesman counted out the change for the customers in front of them, Natsu pressed something round and flat into Zeref's hand. Startled, the wizard lifted the object, which turned out to be an ivory pendant upon a long, red cord. Zeref ran his fingers across the surface of the disk and found that it wasn't just smooth as he had first thought. Instead, there were shallow indents upon its face forming some kind of flowing design.

"What's this?"

"A good luck charm, or something like that," Natsu said. "You do seem a bit unlucky sometimes. Doesn't hurt, right?"

Zeref didn't believe in good luck charms, and he had the feeling that Natsu didn't really either. The dragon seemed too down-to-earth for that. Still...

"Thank you."

Natsu shrugged and watched him pull the cord over his head, dislodging his hood a little in the process. Once he'd tucked the pendant under the front of his robes, Natsu reached over to tug his hood back into place, then turned to speak with the salesman.

Standing behind them in the line, Xander looked away, feeling a little as though he had intruded on a private moment even though nothing in particular had happened. Maybe he was reading too much into things. His grandmother did say that he had a tendency to jump to conclusions. Then again, she also said that he had a good sense for people and emotions.

His spectacles were slipping again, and he lifted a hand to push them back up his nose. Now that he was paying attention, there seemed to be even more people waiting to get into town than was customary, even for one of Sage Town's famous festivals. Xander wondered if some special event had been planned that he wasn't aware of, or if something else had happened.

"Xander?"

The photographer turned back towards the cart at the sound of his name, and the dark-haired wizard passed him a paper bag full of baked sweet potato that had been cut into bite-sized chunks. Xander thanked him, and, when the other two had received their bags from the salesman as well, they moved down the road to secure a spot in the general queue.

An hour later, all three of them had finished their snacks, but the town had only just come into view.

"Wonder what's taking so long," Natsu said, peering past the crowd towards the town gates. Abruptly, he narrowed his eyes, his entire posture becoming more alert.

The other wizard tensed in response and asked, "Natsu?"

"The knights are here," Natsu replied, voice hard. "It looks like they're checking a lot of the people going into the town."

"Should we leave?"

Natsu frowned. "Maybe, but it could also be more suspicious if we turn around now. Nobody else is leaving."

Xander looked from one wizard to the other then back again.

"Is there a problem?"

There was a tense silence, then Era's quiet voice said, "They're probably looking for me."

Xander asked the logical next question. "Why?"

"Because they're frightened of me."

"Frightened?" Xander repeated, an edge of disbelief creeping into his voice. It was difficult to imagine anyone being frightened of this slender, thoughtful boy with the often soulful eyes.

"It's a misunderstanding," Natsu said forcefully. "And here's not really a great place to talk about it."

Xander looked between the two wizards again then at the knights who stood with the regular sentries on either side of the open gateway in the distance. He thought about the stories he'd heard about how the Rune Knights, newly organized by the Magic Council, were working hard to decrease the number of dark wizards plaguing the kingdom. Then he thought about the photograph in his satchel and what Natsu had told him about Era not sleeping because he was afraid that his magic would put Xander at risk of harm.

"All right," Xander said, squaring his shoulders. "I won't ask you to explain. When we reach the gates, please let me do the talking and play along."


	20. Of Truth and Lies

"Have you seen this boy? He should be traveling alone or with another young man, a Dragon Slayer."

The knight held a sketch up for Xander's inspection. It was Era all right, the photographer thought. The artist had done a magnificent job replicating the wizard's face.

"No, sorry, but I can't say that I have," Xander lied, squinting in an exaggerated fashion at the image. "Why, is he dangerous?"

The knight grunted. He'd had a long day, and the summer sun was far too intense. He was sweating profusely in his armor, and it was starting to chafe.

"It's none of your business. If you do see him, it's in your best interest to steer clear and let us know as soon as possible. We have good reason to believe that he's headed this way."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Name and business?" the man asked, his gaze wandering a little now that he'd moved on to more standard questions.

"Xander, and I live here."

The town sentry who stood at the knight's elbow murmured as he jotted a note down on his clipboard, "That he does."

The knight nodded, lifting a hand to adjust his helmet and then glancing past Xander at the two wizards behind him.

"And you two?"

"They're with me," Xander said quickly, mentally wincing at the fact that the sentry on duty right now was someone he knew.

Sure enough, the sentry's brow furrowed at his answer and he glanced up. "What? But I thought you left the town by yourself. Your grandmother's worried sick."

"Didn't she tell you where I was going?" Xander asked, fishing for information. He didn't need the sentry poking holes in all his lies.

"She just said that you were trying to cheer her up, and she was afraid that you'd go and get yourself hurt. I assume you went somewhere dangerous."

Oh good, that made things easier.

"Well, it was a long trip, and long trips are always a little risky," Xander said, gesturing back at his two companions. "I thought Grandmother might feel better with more family around—you know, since Grandfather's gone. The house feels so empty with just the two of us. You remember that Grandmother and I went to a wedding last year? Well, let me introduce you to my cousin Natsu and his wife, Era."

Behind the photographer, Zeref lowered his head further beneath his hood to hide his own surprise at Xander's choice of lies. Then again, with his heavy cloak and loose clothes, it wasn't like anyone could actually tell that the body under the cloak wasn't quite the right shape.

Natsu wrapped an arm around the other wizard, drawing him closer against his side, and gave the gate guards an apologetic smile. "Hey, sorry to rush you, but will this take a lot longer? We've been on the road for days, and she's not feeling very well. We think she might have caught a cold on the way."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the sentry said. "It's the first time you two have traveled this far, isn't it? I remember that Xander said you've never left your hometown."

"That's right," Natsu said easily, "but family's important. So when Xander asked us, we agreed to visit for awhile."

"Welcome to our town then," the sentry said, nodding to them. "You chose an excellent time to visit. I hope you have fun while you're here. Xander should be able to help you find a healer if you need one, or a good apothecary."

"So you know all of these people?" the knight asked, his gaze lingering awhile longer on the figure shrouded in the cloak before turning to the other guard.

"I do, more or less. Xander's a good kid, even if he is a bit clumsy sometimes."

"Well, all right then." The knight sounded doubtful, but he also sounded tired. And he waved them past with only one last, cursory inspection.

"That was surprisingly easy," Natsu said when they were far enough away from the town gates.

"That's the good thing about the sentry being someone I know," Xander replied, leading the way through the streets. "I have a reputation for honesty."

"Yeah? In that case, you're weirdly good at telling lies. You didn't act differently at all."

"Am I? I suppose I wasn't thinking about it that way. Anyhow, we're also lucky that the knight out there has obviously been on duty all day and really just wants a break."

"You do realize that this means we'll have to stay at your house for now, don't you?" Zeref asked.

The photographer only shrugged. "Of course. I wasn't lying when I said our house feels far too large for just two people."

"But what are we going to tell your grandmother?" Natsu asked.

"The truth. Or as much of it as you're comfortable with. She trusts my judgment, and I think she'll like you."

.

When Xander had said that his home was large, the wizards had not envisioned the three-story monster that now stood before them in an upscale part of town. Then again, that was probably a good thing, since Zeref would mostly have to remain indoors for the duration of their stay.

"Grandfather did very well for himself in perfumes and cosmetics after he finished his apprenticeship," Xander explained, crossing the front yard and unlocking the double front doors. "I actually do a little of that work myself these days, although I'm mostly helping my friend market her new picture boxes and picture paper. They haven't really caught on yet, but I have a feeling that they're going to be a big hit eventually."

"You left your grandmother here all by herself?" Zeref asked, frowning.

"Of course not! I asked our neighbor to stay with her until I got back, and the doctor visits every other day. In fact, I should probably go speak with Miss Margret before she notices you. Grandmother's room is at the far left corner of the ground floor. If you need some distance, there are several empty rooms on the top floor you can pick from."

"Thanks, we'll go check them out." Natsu paused, glanced around, then added, "Where can we find the stairs?"

It was obvious that the house belonged to someone with a love for art. Paintings, most of them watercolors, lined every wall they passed. Several of them depicted landscapes while others showed scenes from what the wizards guessed was Sage Town.

"It smells a bit dusty, but not too bad," Natsu said when they reached the third floor landing. "I assume you prefer the near right corner, since it's the farthest from his grandmother."

He pushed open the door in question and glanced inside.

"Huh, talk about empty. At least the window's got curtains. It's a bit cramped, but it might fit a mattress if they've got one to spare. If not, we could just put some blankets on the floor."

"Natsu," Zeref said a little hesitantly, "you don't really have to stay with me, you know. There are other rooms. This isn't like the hotel where you needed to keep an eye on me."

Natsu stopped in his examination of the room and moved to stand in front of him.

"Do you not want me to stay with you?"

"What? No, that's not what I meant..."

Zeref trailed off, unsure how to explain. He just didn't want to become a bother. Natsu was one person that he absolutely did not want to lose.

"I really don't mind," Natsu said.

The dragon's sharp gaze fixed on his face was starting to make Zeref uncomfortable. It was a little too focused, a little too intent—and for some strange reason, Zeref's stomach was full of butterflies again, only this time, they were soft and fluttery and not all that unpleasant.

In an attempt to change the odd mood that had settled around them, Zeref started towards the window, intending to let in some fresh air. They should probably dust the room too, clean it up some, even if they were hoping not to stay long.

He'd gotten only two steps when Natsu grabbed his wrist and turned him around to face him again. There was the briefest of pauses—so brief that Zeref might have imagined it—then Natsu leaned in and kissed him.

Zeref froze, too shocked to respond either positively or negatively. The kiss ended almost as quickly as it had started, and Natsu pulled back a little, gaze never leaving the other's wide eyes. He seemed to consider something for a moment, then he let go of Zeref's wrist.

"I'm going to see if Xander knows where we can sell the stuff we collected. And I guess I should say hi to his grandmother too, since we'll be living under the same roof for awhile."

Mutely, Zeref nodded and watched Natsu leave, disappearing through the open doorway. After he had gone, Zeref remained standing stock still in the middle of the room, staring at nothing in particular. Natsu couldn't possibly be serious... could he?

.

Natsu wasn't sure if leaving Zeref alone upstairs was the right thing to do. But if he understood the boy at all, which he rather thought that he did, then Zeref would no doubt need a lot of time and space to think about what Natsu had just done. Kissing him had been an impulsive action on the dragon wizard's part, but in the grand scheme of things, it had not been a spur of the moment decision. Natsu knew exactly what he was doing, and he just hoped that the other wizard would realize that and not simply write the entire situation off as an impossibility.

Locating Xander and his grandmother was easy. Natsu could hear the old woman's dry, reedy voice before he'd even reached the bottom of the stairs.

"You could have been killed, rushing into Incense Wood like that, and then what would I have done? I've only just lost your grandfather. I couldn't bear losing you too."

Xander's reply was quiet and muffled, but the tone was obviously apologetic.

When he reached the old woman's room, Natsu knocked on the doorframe to get their attention before moving past the doorway. All the furnishings here were in shades of green from the leaf-patterned wallpaper and the thick carpet to the domed lampshade of the lamp upon the nightstand. Natsu guessed that the effect was meant to be soothing, although it wasn't currently having that influence upon its occupants.

"Sorry to impose," he said to the old woman seated on the bed with her back propped up against a stack of pillows.

"Oh no, it's the least we could do to thank you for rescuing my grandson." She broke off into a fit of coughing, and Xander pressed a glass of water into her hands.

"Grandmother, please. The doctor said you shouldn't stress."

"You're the one who's causing me stress, boy," she sighed, although there was no real bite in her voice. Just weariness. "Didn't you say there were two of them?"

Natsu was the one who answered. "My friend's upstairs. He's had a stressful day too and needs some time to himself."

"Of course. My grandson tells me that the Rune Knights are looking for him...?"

"That's right." Natsu hesitated, considering the two humans who had chosen to share their home with them. "The knights are scared of him because he's cursed. It's a really dangerous curse that can hurt a lot of people. That's one reason we're here. We heard that someone around Eden Lake might be able to help us. Have you ever heard the name Porlyusica?"

.

"Era?" Xander was standing in the doorway of the small, unfurnished room. "Natsu is still speaking with my grandmother, but after that, we're going to see what information we can find about this curse breaker that you're looking for. We'll also be going to the tanner's to sell those animal skins and then a jeweler's to trade the lizard teeth. Did you want to come?"

From where he'd sat down against the wall, Zeref shook his head. "I think it would be best if I do not."

Xander nodded, having expected as much. "Then could you please keep an eye on my grandmother for me? Someone needs to make sure she has water and remind her to take her pills in half an hour. Miss Margret has already left."

"All right."

"We can set this room up for you two when we get back."

"Okay."

Zeref listened to the man's footsteps leave along the hall and down the stairs.

So Natsu had decided that they could trust these people. Looking back over the past several days, Zeref could understand why. All the same, he doubted that he would have made the same decision had he been on his own. Maybe that was the problem. He'd grown so accustomed to not trusting anyone. To not believing in anyone, no matter how much he desperately wanted to.

His mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts and confused feelings. He needed time to think and sort things out, but he had no idea where to begin or what he was supposed to be figuring out exactly.

He let his head fall back against the wall and looked at the thin stream of light that shone beneath the window curtains. Sometimes, when the angle was just right, he could pick out dust motes drifting in the air, made almost mystical by the glow, which was funny in its way since they were just dust motes—perfectly ordinary and as common as dirt.

Maybe he should get up and look around the house. Just sitting here in the dark wasn't helping him think any better. Besides, if he needed to remind Xander's grandmother to take her pills in half an hour, he had to locate a clock.

.

"There's something odd about you."

Zeref paused with his hand on the water jug with which he had been about to refill the glass on the nightstand.

"I apologize if I woke you."

The old woman peered at him through the dim afternoon light that fell through the gap in the window curtains. Her blue eyes, very much like her grandson's, were clear and thoughtful.

Instead of replying to his statement, she continued, "I'm an artist, although I don't do much painting these days. It's been almost a year since I've been able to hold a brush steady... In any case, I'm good with people's faces, and there's something unusual about your face."

Zeref set down the jug and turned to look at her, unsure if he should respond.

"My grandson said that you're a wizard."

"That's right."

"Thank you—you and that young man of yours—for helping him. I know he can be rather a lot of trouble. I hoped he would grow out of his clumsiness, but that doesn't seem to have happened."

"Natsu's not—I mean, we're not like that."

"No? He certainly looks like he's interested when he talks about you."

"He does? I... suppose I haven't really been paying attention." Zeref hesitated then sighed. "No, that's not entirely true. You can't see what you don't allow yourself to see."

"You seem a little lost to me," the old woman observed.

She carefully and slowly levered herself into a sitting position and reached out to draw the curtains halfway across the large window beside her. Late afternoon light filled the room, and through the glass, Zeref could see what appeared to be a vegetable garden next to a stretch of green grass and an apple tree. It wasn't the kind of backyard that generally got featured in paintings or on greeting cards, but it was practical and well tended. She spent so long gazing outside that Zeref thought she had forgotten about him, but she spoke again before he could leave.

"We do seem very good at blinding ourselves sometimes, don't we? I had no idea how worried Xander was for me until he left me that note and ran off to the woods. It was a rude awakening for sure."

The old woman let out a long, deep sigh and took the photograph from where Xander had placed it beside her lamp. He'd framed it too, and she ran her fingers along the smooth, wooden edge.

"If you're not interested," she said, "you should let him down gently as soon as possible."

"What? Oh, um, no, that's not... I've honestly never given it any thought. It's... never been a possibility."

"You're fond of him then?"

This was not a conversation he had been expecting to have, especially not with Xander's ill grandmother. Then again, awkward though it was, perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. He sorely needed to talk to someone, and there were some things it was actually easier to talk about with a stranger that he knew was unlikely to go telling someone else.

"I am," he admitted. He could be fairly certain of at least that much.

"Then what seems to be the problem? I would have thought that earning a dragon's interest would be rather flattering."

"He told you about that?" Zeref asked, surprised.

She chuckled, but stopped quickly when a cough started in her chest. "Since he told us about why you were looking for a curse breaker without first consulting you, I believe he thought it was only fair to tell us why he was looking for her as well."

"I see."

That... did sound like a decision that Natsu would make.

It was Zeref's turn to sigh. "It just seems... complicated. I'm not a female dragon."

"I'm sure he realizes that," the old woman said dryly.

Okay, Zeref had to concede that that was a silly response, but, "I'm cursed. I should have died a long time ago. I can't even walk freely down the street. Why would he want someone like that?"

"So you're wondering why he cares."

"I... No, I don't know. There seem to be a lot of reasons why it could never work, but if you ask me what those are, it's hard to articulate any of them. That doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"On the contrary, it makes perfect sense. It's easy to be frightened when we want something to work, especially when it looks like a real possibility."

Frightened? Was he frightened? Zeref turned this surprising suggestion over in his mind, lifting a hand to touch the ivory pendant under the front of his robes. He was startled to realize that she might be right. He was, indeed, frightened. For such a long time, all he had really wanted was to die, and yet now, there was so much happening. It threw him off balance to suddenly be given other opportunities, to suddenly have reasons to keep on going—reasons to live. There was so much more to lose, so much more that could go wrong.

The old woman rested the picture frame on her lap. "When I saw those flowers, I was so exhausted. My twisted ankle was throbbing something fearsome, and if Xander's grandfather hadn't been holding me up, I'm almost positive I would have just given up. I couldn't think of anything waiting for me back in town anyway. Then those flowers... For a whole minute, all the two of us could do was stand there and stare. It's a good thing no one else was around. We must have looked ridiculous, gaping like that. When the glow of the flowers finally faded, he turned to me and said, that was incredible. Aren't you glad we saw it? Maybe we'll be able to see it again someday."

For a moment, her eyes misted over, but she quickly dabbed away the moisture with the back of her hand. "And you know what? I was glad. I was glad that I was there to see that garden, and even though it was gone and that filled me with regret, I was still happy to have had the chance to see it. That experience will forever remain a part of me. Sometimes, we just have to give ourselves a chance, and trust that the world can still be something beautiful."

Zeref mentally compared what she had just said with the story that Xander had told them, then he asked, "Why tell me all this?"

The elderly woman placed the framed photograph back on the nightstand. "I'm just a nosy old woman with too much time and too little to do. We old people love to give advice. Didn't you know? And unlike my dear grandson, you actually seem to listen."

The humor ebbed from her voice, and she added, "Besides, you look tired. A person so young shouldn't have such a look. And your friend seemed a little preoccupied when he spoke with me. Love can be a wonderful thing if you tend it properly and help it grow. I almost missed my chance when I chose to run away. Perhaps there would have been other chances. It's not possible to live a life completely free of regret, but there are some regrets that I feel it's better not to have."

Regrets that it was better not to have... She was right about that. If he ran away from the dragon's advances right now, he would regret it for the rest of his life, and all considered, that could be a very, very long time.

The terrible weight in his chest eased.

"I really should have realized what he was thinking when he started bringing me dead animals every day and insisting that we share them," he said, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice.

The old woman wrinkled her nose. "That sounds mildly disturbing, but I suppose different people have different customs."

Somewhere in the house, a clock began to sound the hour.

They both listened to the chimes for a moment, then Zeref said, ""I'm supposed to remind you to take your pills."

"Of course. I do have a tendency to forget, but then, they really are far too bitter."

She sighed and removed a bottle from her nightstand while Zeref picked up the water jug again and refilled her cup. Hopefully, Natsu would come back soon so they could talk.


	21. So We Don't Regret

"Wizard healers?" The jeweler tapped her lip with one well-manicured finger, her gaze unfocused. "I know of several around Eden Lake. It's something about the water around here. It's rich in nutrients and minerals from its trip down from the mountains, and a lot of special, medicinal herbs can be cultivated in the area. I don't think I've ever heard the name Porlyusica though."

Xander sighed. "Well, thanks anyway."

"Hold on a second." The woman vanished into the back of her shop and returned a second later with a folded newspaper. She set it on the glass display case that doubled as a counter and pointed to a small square of text. "If you're looking for a powerful healer, maybe this person would be worth looking up. Rumor has it that she actually came from another world."

Xander adjusted his spectacles and read the title, printed in bold, black letters. "The Ghost Lady? That doesn't sound very nice."

The jeweler laughed. "I suppose it doesn't, but that's what people thought she was at first and the name stuck. Just goes to show how important first impressions can be."

"I'm sorry, but can we keep this?" Xander asked, gesturing at the newspaper.

She waved a dismissive hand. "Be my guest. Your cousin brought me some of the finest silver lizard teeth I've ever seen. You have no idea how hard they are to come by right now."

Standing off to the side, Natsu was only half listening. He was finding it difficult to focus on gathering information. His mind kept going back to earlier that day and a pair of large, dark eyes full of surprise.

The boy's lips had been very soft.

"Natsu? Natsu!"

The dragon refocused his attention on the present and said, "Yeah, what?"

Xander frowned at him as they exited the shop and paused on the side of the street. "Did you hear a word I said?"

Natsu sifted back through his memories of the last few minutes before answering. "Something about asking around the local hospital and eavesdropping around the docks."

Xander sighed. "Something like that. Listen, if you're worried about Era being alone at home, we could just call it a day and go back."

Natsu considered this for a moment then said, "Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me more about how a human goes about courting someone he's interested in. I think I might need some advice."

Xander scratched the back of his neck, flustered. "I'm not sure I'm qualified to give that kind of advice. I don't have any, uh, successful experiences."

Natsu raised his eyebrows. "Yeah? So you have unsuccessful experiences?"

"If you must know, the only girl I've ever asked out whacked me with the flowers I bought her and refused to speak to me for a week."

"Why'd she do that?"

"You know, I still have no idea."

"Well, that's not very helpful."

Xander sniffed. "I told you I wasn't qualified."

"But you're a human. Shouldn't you at least have some idea how humans generally go about things?"

"It's not the same for all humans," the photographer said defensively. "I mean, maybe she hit me with the flowers because she didn't like flowers and I never figured that out. Maybe she just didn't like me and found my asking her offensive somehow. Or maybe she did like me and just had a really strange way of showing it."

"And if she hadn't turned you down, what then?"

The red faded from Xander's face, and he grew thoughtful. "We would have started dating—you know, going places and doing things together. To see if we really did like each other, and if we were compatible. I guess you could also say that it's about making memories—memories about being together, caring, and having fun while the two people involved make sure that they really want one another that way. After all, it's always possible that the other person will end up liking someone else."

Natsu briefly imagined this possibility—and quickly put a stop to it at the sudden surge of rage that it provoked.

"Don't—say things like that," he snapped. " It's making me angry just thinking about it."

A few passersby glanced at him, startled, and hastened on.

Xander glanced at his face and almost took a step away from him. Anger—or should that be jealousy, some corner of his mind wondered—made the wizard's eyes more inhuman. It was... kind of creepy now that he knew the other young man was actually a dragon. Most of the stories he'd heard about dragons were bad. If he hadn't traveled with Natsu and Zeref for so many days, he would have been rather a lot more afraid. As things stood, the information was still somewhat unnerving.

"Uh, well, I'm sure you don't have to worry about that," Xander said hurriedly. "It's obvious that you two are very close. To be honest, I thought you were already together."

"We're not," Natsu told him. "Not yet anyway. But we will be, if I have anything to say about it."

"How can you be so sure?" Xander asked. The photographer himself had never been able to muster that kind of confidence in... well, in anything really. Maybe that was why the girl had whacked him.

Natsu's answer surprised him.

"I'm not sure, but I don't plan on giving up."

.

Natsu and Zeref ate dinner at one end of the overly long dining table while Xander ate with his grandmother in her room, recounting some of his recent adventures over vegetable stew and tea. Neither wizard spoke of what had happened between them earlier that day, although both of them were thinking about it. The dining room of this mostly empty house just didn't seem like the right place, and over dinner felt like the wrong time.

It wasn't until two hours later after they had cleaned up their new sleeping quarters and spread several layers of old quilts and blankets upon the floor that either of them broached the subject.

"Natsu... were—are—you serious?"

Natsu shut the door and moved to sit beside him. The window to their left was still open, letting in a warm breeze and the distant noise of the overflowing marketplace. In contrast, the house around them felt incredibly quiet with none of the sounds that filled the quiet of the woods.

"Of course I am. We take these things very seriously."

Dark eyes searched the dragon's face. "But I'm—why would... Are you sure?"

"That's kind of the same question you just asked me."

Zeref looked away.

Natsu gave him a moment to think about this then said, "So?"

He wished he could see the boy's face more clearly. He'd gotten good at reading Zeref's body language, but it was easier when Natsu could see his features.

Several incredibly long seconds ticked by, then Zeref said, "I'm... very fond of you. If I allowed myself, I'm fairly sure that I could grow to love you. I... want to try to make it work, but you understand that... it will take me some time to get used to the idea of any kind of intimate relationship. I'm afraid you'll have to be patient with me."

"Not a problem," Natsu replied, a subtle tension that he hadn't quite noticed himself leaving his shoulders. "We've got time."

And really, Natsu had already begun working on that.

"Just let me know if I do anything that makes you really uncomfortable, okay?"

Zeref nodded and relaxed as well, relieved that this conversation had not been as awkward as part of him had feared. It was just... such a strange subject for him of all people to be discussing.

"So did anything happen while you were out?" he asked.

"We got great deals for everything," Natsu said. "The jeweler was really happy about the lizard teeth we had, and we ended up selling the ferret and squirrel furs to some kind of clothing store. No one we asked knew anything about any healers who specialized in magical curses, but there are stories about someone called the Ghost Lady that Xander thinks might be worth looking into."

Zeref got to his knees and reached over to close the window while he listened, drawing the curtains across the view of darkening skies.

"Apparently, people think she came from another world. Do you think that's possible?"

"Well, I don't see why not. I've heard of stranger things."

Returning to his spot on the layered quilts, Zeref unfolded yet another quilt to act as a blanket. Natsu grabbed two pillows from the stack Xander had left by the door and handed one to him.

"There also seems to be a crazy lot of wizards around right now. That doesn't seem to be normal for Sage Town. I overheard several people complaining about it—you know, wizards getting into fights and not being careful with their spells."

Zeref frowned. "Do you have any idea why? Is there some kind of magic-related event being held here?"

"I wouldn't call it an event exactly. More like a job fair."

"What?"

"Let me see. I'm sure I have one of those flyers somewhere..." Natsu searched his pockets and eventually extracted a folded and slightly rumpled piece of paper. He smoothed it out and handed it to the other wizard. "There were people passing them out on practically every street corner."

The first thing Zeref noticed—and really, that was probably the goal of the flyer's distributer—was the monetary sum printed in bold, black letters across the center of the page.

"Natsu, this is—"

"An incredible amount of gold," the dragon finished for him. "It's a reward being offered by the largest merchant company in the area. The flyer doesn't say what for, but they're also hiring a bunch of wizards for a big job."

Zeref took in the minimal amount of text on the flyer at a glance then turned it over to see if there was any more writing on the back. "All it has is a time and location..."

"Yeah, but according to the rumors going around, something or someone has been attacking and sinking most of the ships that attempt to cross Eden Lake. My guess is that it has something to do with that. It's also why they aren't running the usual cruise ships right now."

"Which means we likely won't be able to leave town by ship as Maki suggested," Zeref murmured, thinking out loud. "I wonder if we should go listen to the job details. If they're looking to hire a large number of wizards, we might be able to blend in and leave on the pretext of work."

"I was thinking the same thing," Natsu said, grinning. "Especially since some of those complaints I heard were about the influx of dark wizards."

"What?"

"The employer's not being choosy. As long as you think you can get the job done, they're willing to pay you. Most people are inclined to turn a blind eye because the attacks are causing too many problems for the town. And that's a hell of a lot of money they're offering. If there are a lot of other dark wizards, even if the knights do take an interest, they won't be able to focus on just us."

Zeref thought this over for a moment then nodded. It wasn't a solid plan, but it was better than nothing. The longer they stayed with Xander and his grandmother, the more likely they were to bring trouble knocking at the door.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day. The recruitment event wasn't until the next evening, so that gave them one day to gather as much information as they could. Then it would be time to go. The uninhabited sections of Eden Lake's shores might be inhospitable and mazelike, but Zeref was sure that he and Natsu would be just fine. The important thing was not to be noticed so they didn't end up having to deal with an army. Zeref didn't want to add any more black marks to his record if he could help it. He had enough of those weighing on his conscience already. It was no wonder that the knights had ranked him so high on their priority list.

He was still thinking about this—albeit in the careful, tentative way he thought about most subjects that could potentially upset his mood—when he lay down facing the closed window, and Natsu got up to turn off the single, yellowish light fixed to the ceiling. The light wasn't centered, a corner of the wizard's mind noted, then the room went dark and he was left looking at purple afterimages against the darkness.

Part of him wished that they were still out in the forest where they could hear birds and insects in the distance accompanied by the whisper of wind through the trees. They were familiar sounds, and right now, he felt a nagging need for what was familiar.

The quilts rustled when Natsu lay down behind him and snaked an arm around him to gather him against his chest. Zeref immediately went tense. Before today, he'd begun to grow accustomed to the moments of closeness that occurred between them. He'd even begun to find a sense of security from it. But now that he knew Natsu's intentions towards him, he was suddenly hyper aware of every casual and not so casual touch.

"You were more relaxed when people were trying to kill you," Natsu said.

He sounded amused, but Zeref still felt a little bad about it. It was, after all, kind of ridiculous. For heaven's sake, he'd spent a whole morning sleeping in Natsu's lap and found it perfectly acceptable not all that long ago.

"Sorry..."

"Stop with the apologizing," Natsu sighed. "Seriously. What have you got to apologize for?"

"I want to make this work, but I don't know how."

"You can start by not over thinking it. I'm going to hold you, and we're going to sleep. I'm almost positive that you like being held...?"

"I do," Zeref admitted, more to himself than to Natsu. It wasn't something he'd allowed himself to contemplate since that morning in the woods.

"Besides," Natsu said, repeating his own words from earlier that evening, "we have time. I'm willing to wait for you to work things out."

"I don't want to make you wait forever."

"And I don't want to wait forever," Natsu replied wryly. "I'm not that patient."

He pressed his nose into the other's dark hair that smelled of dew-drenched, autumn mornings and added, "Don't worry, it won't take that long."

And somehow, Natsu's confidence made Zeref feel calmer. The dragon was right. He should really start by trying not to worry so much. No matter what, he couldn't—wouldn't—run away. He didn't need to add this to his long list of regrets.

Long after the boy had fallen asleep, Natsu remained awake, listening to his soft, even breathing. In his mind, he replayed what Zeref had said to him.

"I'm... very fond of you. If I allowed myself, I'm fairly sure that I could grow to love you."

The dragon was rather pleased by that. He hadn't expected the wizard to say so much. In fact, he'd half expected Zeref to pretend—at least for a few days—that nothing had happened.

Love, huh? Natsu wasn't sure he knew what it actually meant to love someone. What he could say for certain was that he wanted to keep Zeref by his side and protect him. He wanted the boy to be happy, but he also wanted Zeref to smile only for him. There was something fiercely possessive about the way he felt when it came to the quiet, dark-haired wizard, and Natsu had to admit that there was probably something selfish about it too. Was that love?

It probably was, Natsu decided, for a dragon like him anyway. Or it could be eventually, and that was good enough for now.


	22. The Monster of Eden Lake

Everything along this section of the stream was dead, and there were bones in the shallow water. Human bones.

Captain Edrik looked around at the skeletal remains of the trees then back at the bleached, white dome of the skull that made its empty eye sockets seem that much more dark. He wondered who it had been.

"The bones were probably here already," Marley said, glancing at the human skeleton then away again with a shudder. There was something not quite right about it that gave her the creeps. "Zeref's magic kills, but it generally leaves more behind than that."

Edrik only nodded, although he thought privately that perhaps there was another reason for these particular remains. If whoever the person was had died here, he would have expected the bones to be more scattered, taken apart by wild animals feeding on the corpse. To leave nothing but bones, the person would have had to have died quite some time ago. Yet not only were most of the bones intact and accounted for, they looked almost new. The effect was disjointed and disconcerting, and all the dead trees, withered leaves, and dry moss only enhanced this sense of wrongness. Edrik couldn't believe that it was a coincidence that the bones were right in the middle of it all.

One thing was for sure though. This glimpse of what the Black Wizard's magic could do was a chilling reminder of why his team and so many of the other Rune Knights had been added to the search for Zeref.

"Should we leave, sir? We think we've found a trace of his aura. Headquarters was right, and he appears to be headed in the direction of the lake. The assistance you asked for should be arriving in Sage Town soon as well."

Edrik took one last look at the dead patch of woods, etching the image into his memory, and nodded.

"Let's move."

.

Leagues away in Sage Town, several much younger and less experienced members of the Rune Knights were having, in short, a very bad day.

Natsu watched the fight between the small group of knights and other wizards from the window of a bakery across the street. A giant, paper bag sat on the table next to him, stuffed with various sandwiches and pastries. The lot was going to be lunch, and Natsu was looking forward to that lunch already. However, he couldn't bring it all back to the house until the commotion outside settled down.

"They're still at it?" Xander asked, returning from the post office next door with his arms full of newspapers and magazines.

"Yeah. Doesn't help that the crowd keeps egging them on."

The photographer sighed in exasperation. "They're acting like unruly children. Do you know who started it?"

"Nope. Does it matter? The knights pulled those two guys to the side of the street to question them, and I guess it annoyed them or something." Natsu shrugged. "I don't like the knights myself, but that's because they're after Era. I don't understand why so many humans don't seem to like them either. I thought they were created to help keep the peace and protect non-wizards from crimes committed by wizards."

Xander adjusted his spectacles, wincing at the sound of a fist striking flesh. The noise of the brawl was all too easy to hear through the bakery's open door. "Some people do like having them around, and some people don't. Think about it. They only recently declared that certain guilds and wizards are committing crimes by taking the jobs that they take or working with whatever spells they work with. It wasn't always illegal to hire a person to use magic to kill someone, for instance. Just like it wasn't always illegal to assassinate an enemy through more mundane means. When you suddenly start trying to impose all these rules on people, even people that aren't directly affected can start getting nervous and upset. It's about who has authority and what rights people ought to have. No one likes other people throwing their weight around."

"Makes sense, I guess."

Frankly, Natsu wasn't all that interested. Humans were unbelievably talented at complicating their own lives. Right now, Natsu just wanted the idiots clogging up the street to go away so he could get back to Zeref and tell him what he'd seen and heard around town that morning.

It was a whole half hour before Natsu and Xander were able to leave the bakery unnoticed, and another fifteen minutes before they stepped through the door of Xander's family home. The photographer selected two pastries from the bag and headed for his grandmother's room while Natsu took everything else he'd bought and followed his nose to a room on the second floor that turned out to be a small library. Zeref sat at the desk by the window overlooking the backyard with a book in his hands.

"You're reading about flowers?" Natsu asked incredulously, catching sight of the title embossed upon the cover.

"There aren't a lot of choices," Zeref replied, gesturing at the laden bookshelves. "Almost all of these books are about flowers. At least it's a subject that I don't know much about and don't find uninteresting. The other books are all about perfume making and skin care. I don't really care for perfume, and I don't think my skin needs any care."

Natsu laughed and set the paper bag on the other end of the desk. "Come on, eat something. I got one of everything the bakery had—although Xander took the cheese croissant and the custard pastry."

Zeref set the book aside and rose from his chair, walking over to peer into the bag. It looked like Natsu had been buying lunch as well as dinner. It was difficult to tell what any of it was exactly, so he just chose one of the paper-wrapped items at random.

"Did you find out anything useful?"

"Depends on what you consider useful," Natsu said, choosing a bacon sandwich for himself. "There are several famous healers living about the lake, but the Ghost Lady still seems like our best bet. Apparently, she started getting famous for dealing with a strange plaque that struck a nearby village something like three years ago. A dark wizard was killed there, and before he died, he cursed the villagers for helping the knights that had been chasing him. Immediately afterward, people started getting sick. A lot of healers tried to help, but they started to fall ill too. It looked like the entire village was finished until the Ghost Lady showed up and started passing out this potion. Whatever it was, everyone got better, and then she just packed up and left. Didn't say a word the whole time. There are all sorts of stories about her, but the only thing most people agree on is that she doesn't like to interact with people much despite being a healer. That fits with what Dad said."

Zeref nodded. "I don't suppose anyone knew where she could be found."

"Unfortunately, no. She just seems to show up now and then, and then disappear again."

"That will make things difficult."

Natsu shrugged, not all that concerned. "At least we know we're in the right area."

Assuming she was even the right person. Zeref didn't bother pointing this out though. They both knew it, and they knew also that it wasn't important. If this assumption turned out to be false, they would just keep searching.

Instead, Zeref asked, "So did you end up going to the docks?"

"I did. You wouldn't believe the boats they have. There was this one ship that had trees growing on it—actual, living trees. Not sure what the point was, but it did look kind of amazing."

"Looking amazing might have been the point."

Natsu snorted then went on to describe some of the merchandise being sold and the people he had seen.

"There was this old man telling stories to a bunch of kids in the park. When we passed by, he'd just started one on a girl who'd been bewitched by an evil sorceress and fell asleep for a hundred years. I was surprised to recognize it from that fairytale collection. The kids seemed to like it, although I thought it was a bit boring."

"Boring?" Zeref repeated, recalling the story in question. "I suppose it is a little boring. I would have said it was more illogical myself, to believe that someone would come along and love her enough for that love to wake her from the magic when he could not possibly have so much as spoken to her before."

"Boring and illogical then," Natsu concluded. "Of course, a lot of those stories were kind of illogical, so maybe that shouldn't count."

A polite cough interrupted them, and they glanced over to find Xander in the library doorway. The photographer adjusted his spectacles with his left hand and held up a brown cloth bag with his right.

"That sentry who was on guard duty yesterday, his wife sent him over with some herbal tea that's supposed to be helpful for curing colds and fevers. For Era."

The two wizards looked at one another, bemused.

"That was nice of them," Natsu said.

Zeref agreed. "Please tell them that it was helpful."

.

Considering the amount of reward money at stake, the massive turnout in the shipyard was unsurprising.

Zeref had been afraid that his hood and cloak would make him appear suspicious, but he needn't have worried. Not only was he not the only one hiding his face in such a manner, he spotted several wizards wearing masks and even one person whose face was almost completely obscured by bandages. Any one of these individuals could easily outdo him in sheer suspiciousness.

A dark-skinned man, broad about the shoulders but not especially tall, stood on a raised dais at the front of the crowd. His dark gray overcoat was embroidered with abstract patterns of wind and cloud, and he wore a large, rather cumbersome looking ring on each hand, the foggy gray moonstones set in them glinting as he gestured at the map tacked up beside him.

"Several ships have been sunk here, here, and here," he said, his voice booming across the shipyard. "Survivors have reported seeing lights in the water and hearing shrieks like those of some giant, demonic bird. Almost all the attacks have taken place between dusk and dawn, so we don't know what manner of creature we're actually dealing with—or if it is, in fact, a swarm of creatures instead of a single beast. What we do know is that it, or they, favor deeper waters, but will occasionally venture close to the small islands scattered throughout the western half of the lake."

He paused to let them digest this information.

A young man with lank, white hair down to his shoulders called out from the back of the audience, "So, Remi, what's the plan? You've got one right? I heard you were asked to head this little operation."

Remi... That name sounded familiar.

"Isn't that the shipwright Troy and Maki told us about?" Natsu asked quietly.

"I believe so."

"Should we give him that letter?"

Zeref thought for a moment then shook his head. "At this point, there wouldn't be any point. The fewer people who know the truth, the better. Even if he was willing to help us, I don't see how getting him involved in our business would help us in any way."

On the stage, the shipwright's forehead wrinkled. "What are you doing here, Taiyo? You do realize, don't you, that we'll all be fighting on a lake? Fire Magic isn't exactly the best on the water."

"Hey, what's he mean by that?" Natsu muttered under his breath, offended.

"Probably that water usually extinguishes flames."

"Yeah? Well, I can make my Fire Magic work even underwater."

"Natsu, we need to hear this. Besides, he's not talking about you."

Taiyo didn't seem to agree with the shipwright any more than Natsu did.

"That just goes to show how little you know about powerful Fire Magic. I'm going to be the one taking home that reward money."

Remi just sighed and returned his attention to the rest of the crowd. "I was asked to lead this operation because we'll be using one of my ships. I do not specialize in combat magic, but I do know a great deal about sailing, and I expect you all to pay attention to my instructions while we're onboard to minimize potential problems. All of you who choose to help will be paid a handsome sum for your efforts, seeing as you will be risking your lives. The reward, on the other hand, will go to the wizard or wizards who actually slay the monster."

"Works for me," a woman in the front murmured. Her sandy hair was braided and coiled atop her head, mimicking the crisscrossed pattern on her circular earrings.

Remi continued. "We will set sail tomorrow afternoon from this spot, and ours will be the only vessel on the entire lake. We've spoken to the other settlements along the shore to make sure of that. You have until then to gather any weapons or supplies you might need. We don't know when or if the creature will attack us, so refreshments and lodgings will be provided. Until we find the beast, we will not be returning to port."

"So we'll be bait, huh?" Taiyo drawled. "Sounds like fun."

"Every one of you should think carefully before joining this mission," Remi said sharply. "The monster we're hunting has destroyed more than a dozen ships already and taken more lives than I care to count. Do not, and I repeat, do not take this job lightly. Once we're on the water, we won't be turning back."

He paused for a moment then added, "You're dismissed. If you're accompanying us, gather back here tomorrow at five."

Slowly, the crowd dispersed, some leaving in silence, others talking quietly with one another or murmuring under their breaths to themselves.

"Wonder how many of them will be back tomorrow," Natsu said.

"Quite a few, I imagine," Zeref replied. "If they came here at all, they must have some degree of confidence in their skills. And many wizards with that kind of confidence are also rather competitive, arrogant, and full of themselves."

Natsu snorted. "Sounds like great people to get stuck on a ship with."

Taiyo strode past them, muttering about being treated like a class of careless students. Zeref wondered what kind of Fire Wizard he was.

"Well, lucky for these guys, we'll be onboard," Natsu said as the two of them started back towards the house. "They've got nothing to worry about with us around. No monster would ever be able to beat us."

Zeref lowered his head to hide a smile. Natsu's confidence always helped put him at ease, although it wasn't the thought of lake monsters that worried him. The dragon was probably right about the monster anyway. With the two of them onboard, it was pretty unlikely that it would get away. Of course, that could just be his own confidence as a wizard speaking. His own talent with magic was the one thing in his life he had never doubted.

On the other hand, they weren't going on this job for the reward money. If the opportunity presented itself, they should really be leaving. Besides, Zeref's presence was more of a hazard to the other wizards than any lake monster.


	23. Duel on the White Hawk

Like Troy and Maki's much smaller vessel, the White Hawk fairly blazed with magic, its wood enhanced with so many enchantments that it almost glowed even to the naked eye. Although the ship had a mast, no sail had been suspended upon it—because it didn't need one. It was not the wind that was going to make this vessel move.

The orange wash of late afternoon made the entire ship look gilded. More like a small cruise liner than a battleship.

Natsu whistled. "There's so much magic that I can smell it. Guess we don't have to worry about that Taiyo guy accidentally setting it on fire."

"I'm more worried about you accidentally setting it on fire," Zeref murmured.

"I could totally burn the whole ship to a crisp if I wanted to."

"I know, and please don't. I don't really like to swim, and I imagine that getting eaten by a lake monster would be... inconvenient."

Natsu cackled and slung an arm around him as they walked up the gangplank. "I didn't let the knights get you. There's no way I'd let a lake monster have you."

Zeref let out a soft sound that was almost a laugh and let himself get propelled across the deck towards—surprise, surprise—the refreshment tables.

"Didn't you eat enough at the house?"

"No way! It was nice of Xander's grandmother to cook all that food for us, especially when she's only just started walking again, but all she served were vegetables. I'm hungry again already. And I smell ham."

"Try to leave some for everyone else."

"I'll leave some for you if you want it, but I make no promises about everyone else."

The other wizards from yesterday evening were still trickling onto the ship. Zeref had been right, and it looked like a good portion of them had returned. Natsu estimated about forty wizards in total.

"You want anything?" Natsu asked, grabbing a plate for himself.

"Just water, please."

"You sure? There's a lot of good stuff."

"I'm sure. Or actually, do they have coffee?"

"Hmmm." Natsu inhaled deeply then said, "Yeah, they've got coffee. Why, planning not to sleep until we get off this ship?"

"Something like that, yes."

Natsu frowned, but moved to pour him a mug of the bitter, black-brown drink from the large, metal pot at the other end of the table. Some things couldn't be helped.

An hour later, the White Hawk slid smoothly away from the dock, directed by the spells woven into it from bow to stern. The enchanted ship had no problems traveling against the current, and its steady progress allowed all of its passengers to appreciate the natural scenery around them. From their spot by the railing near the prow, Natsu and Zeref had an unparalleled view of the river ahead of them where it opened out into the vast expanse of Eden Lake. It was a magnificent sight, and to think that this ship was the only one on the entire lake...

Zeref held his coffee mug with both hands, the warm ceramic helping to ward off the evening chill. Natsu had long since eaten his fill and now stood behind him with his arms wrapped loosely around Zeref's middle. The dark-haired wizard tentatively allowed himself to lean back, ignoring the fluttery feeling that it inspired. The feeling was uncomfortably similar to anxiety, but like he'd noted before, it was not unpleasant. In fact... it might be a little like happiness too, except he really didn't have much experience with happiness and couldn't really compare the two.

Come to think of it, the only emotions he was used to feeling around others these days were panic, despair, and a kind of self-imposed apathy.

Abruptly, Natsu altered his hold on him and lifted a hand to snap his fingers in front of Zeref's face. The wizard started, jerking his head back and turning to try and look at him.

"Natsu?"

"Your mind's wandering," the dragon said. "Sorry, but we can't really afford that right now, right? Besides, I take offense to you thinking about other people while I'm holding you."

Zeref started again at that. "What?!"

"Relax, I was just teasing you. Well... mostly. I should probably warn you that we dragons are very possessive creatures, and we don't really like to share. Hmmm, I wish you weren't wearing this hood."

Zeref puzzled over the meaning behind this last comment for a long minute before giving up and taking a long sip of his coffee. It was incredibly bitter.

Back at the refreshment tables, Taiyo's by now familiar voice let out an indignant shout. "Hey! Who took all the ham? I swear there was at least half a pig's worth right here only half an hour ago!"

Natsu chuckled. This close, Zeref could feel the sound as well as hear it.

"If he'd noticed half an hour ago, he could have fought me for it, but it's too late now. I've already eaten it all. Not that he'd have stood a chance anyway."

Zeref ducked his head and hid his smile behind another drink of coffee.

.

The problem with a ship full of wizards, especially relatively powerful wizards with a handful of dark wizards mixed in, was that you ended up with a lot of overblown egos colliding and ricocheting about. It was rather a lot like being surrounded by squabbling children who all thought they had something to prove. Under other circumstances, Zeref would have happily ignored it all. But unfortunately, one of those egos belonged to his own traveling companion.

Midnight had come and gone with no signs of life from under the water, and the wizards aboard the White Hawk were growing restless.

"You know what?" Taiyo burst out, slamming his empty mug down on the table. "I'm sick of listening to all of you brag! Why did you bother to come along anyway? I'm the only one who's needed here."

"What?" another wizard exclaimed, glaring over the spread of half eaten dishes. "You're the loudest braggart here! I've never met someone so full of hot air!"

"I am not full of hot air! Who kicked your ass in that tournament last year, huh?"

"That was last year. I'm way stronger now. There's no way any Fire Wizard would ever be able to beat me."

"Care to test that?"

This time, it was Natsu who had spoken, and Zeref winced under the shadow of his hood. This wasn't exactly what he considered keeping a low profile. Of course, in this crowd, not saying anything might be more suspicious.

The dragon's challenge startled Taiyo, who turned to him and asked, "Wait, so you're a Fire Wizard too?"

"I'm not just a Fire Wizard. I'm the most powerful Fire Wizard you'll ever meet."

"Hey!"

Zeref fought down the urge to sigh. He was not naturally a competitive person. He just didn't see the point of it. He'd always been extremely self confident as a wizard, and he felt no need to prove his abilities to anyone. Nor did he feel the need for anyone to recognize those abilities. After all, he knew that he was talented.

He wished the lake monster would just attack them already so they could get this escape plan over with.

A woman with black hair falling all the way down past her waist stepped away from the railing towards the center of the deck.

"I have a proposal," she said, waving one pale, elegant hand. "Just to pass the time, how about we hold our own tournament right here and now? This foredeck's spacious enough, isn't it, Captain Remi?"

Standing at the prow, Remi grunted and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't be ridiculous, Miss Yumi. If you ruffians start dueling on my ship, you'll sink it before the lake monster even gets a chance to try."

"Oh come now, not one of your ships," Taiyo said, smirking. "You've cast so many protective enchantments on this vessel that even cannon fire would probably just bounce off. Or are you saying you don't have confidence in your own work?"

"You're a fool," the shipwright said flatly.

Instead of launching into another speech on the dangers of dueling on deck, however, Remi turned his gaze on the other wizards. It was obvious that many of them were growing bored, and a ship full of bored, impatient wizards was a disaster waiting to happen. These were the people he was relying on to get this job done? Did they even know how to cooperate on something? Remi had his doubts. He also had the feeling that most of these wizards weren't taking this situation seriously. They hadn't heard the gibbering sailors who had made it back to shore. Nor had they been the ones to fish the splintered remains of the other ships—many of them of his own design—from the strangely murky water. There was a reason Remi and the heads of the merchant company had hired wizards for this job, and these wizards were... sort of missing it.

Back by the railing, Zeref glanced from Natsu, who was still arguing with Taiyo over who's magic was superior, to the woman Yumi, still watching the shipwright, and finally to the shipwright himself, who's expression had gone from stormy exasperation to sudden thoughtfulness. Zeref had a bad feeling about this. Then again, he tended to have bad feelings about a lot of things.

The night was cloudy so the sky was pitch black, devoid of moon or stars. The shoreline had thinned to near invisibility even before the sun had completely set, and so the only source of light remaining now were the magic-powered lamps hung at intervals along the sides of the ship and from the walls of the ship's main cabin. These shed an orange glow over the deck and reflected upon the undulating surface of the water around them, highlighting the foam stirred up by the vessel's passage.

"If you all insist," Remi said, raising his voice and waiting for the remaining chatter to die down before continuing, "then we will hold a tournament. But straight-out dueling is boring and risky to this ship—which is unacceptable. I suggest a different sort of competition."

"We're listening," the tall woman with her hair braided in a coil atop her head answered him, leaning on the bronze staff she'd brought onboard with her.

Remi left his post at the front of the ship and disappeared briefly into the captain's cabin, calling for a few of the other wizards to help him. When they reemerged, they carried four braziers, each one about one and a half meters in height. Rather than fuel or flames, however, these braziers held a collection of rainbow colored crystals the size of chicken's eggs. Under the shipwright's direction, they cleared a space on the deck roughly forty paces long and thirty paces across. The braziers were placed to mark the area's four corners.

"The crystals in these braziers come from a very special mine in the nearby mountains," Remi explained. "When a wizard touches them, they glow quite brightly for a period of one minute or so. You have to do some more fancy footwork to make the light last longer, but that's not necessary for what I have in mind."

He had everyone's attention now.

"When I was still a student, my friends and I invented this game. We played in teams of five, but our playing field was much larger and we had more braziers. So for today, let's say you participate in teams of two. The goal is to light both of the braziers on your opponents' side of the playing field while preventing your opponents from doing the same. Keep in mind, however, that these crystals are also very fragile and break easily. If you so much as crack one, that's an automatic loss. The same goes for any damage you do to the deck, which means that you'll have to exercise some restraint. I don't want to see any splintered wood or scorch marks."

Remi paused to let them all think this over then asked, "So then, are you interested?"

Judging from the murmurs that swept through the gathering, the overall answer was yes.

Zeref glanced back at Natsu, surprised by his silence.

"Aren't you interested?"

The dragon wizard scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I am, but I can't imagine not damaging anything. And we have to play in teams, but it's not safe for you to use your magic because it'll make you easier to track."

Zeref looked back at the game field where two teams had already assembled and were about to start the first match. The woman with the braid and the bronze staff had partnered with a reedy, dark-haired girl only half her height. The taller woman's staff crackled with electricity, and Zeref guessed that if the "no damage to the ship" rule hadn't been instated, she would have been throwing lightning bolts at her opponents. However, since the rule was in place, she stuck to fighting with the staff itself, which had a "stunning" effect on any opponent it struck. Her shorter companion's weapon of choice appeared to be a thin, nearly invisible thread, which she focused on weaving about the other team's feet. Within minutes, they had their opponents completely immobilized, at which point each of them walked to one of the opposing team's braziers and set the crystals alight by placing their hands upon them.

"Nicely done," Remi said.

The two words had hardly left his mouth before another team stepped onto the field, declaring that they could do better.

This claim proved untrue, although they displayed some visually spectacular spells including a shower of transparent feathers meant to sap an opponent's energy. One of the ghostly feathers fell into a brazier, and Zeref noted with interest that the crystals glimmered very, very faintly in response for just a second before going dark again. So they didn't only react when a wizard touched them. It was probably the magic they were reacting to, and not the wizard specifically.

Hmmm, that could be useful.

"If you really want to compete," Zeref said slowly, "I might be able to think of a way."

"It's not just about if I want to compete," Natsu said, scowling. "If you're not even a little bit interested, we won't do it. Don't force yourself."

Zeref hesitated. Did he want to participate? He had no interest in regular wizard duels, but like the shipwright had said, this was a little different.

"It's not completely without interest," he said finally. "One round shouldn't pose any problems, and as I said, I have an idea. I am curious to see if it would work, although as a strategy, it will probably only be able to win one game."

Taiyo was on the field now, teamed up with the woman Yumi, who had proposed a tournament in the first place. She turned out to be an Ice Wizard, and she was taking a leaf from the thread user's book—creating small patches of ice beneath her opponent's feet to trip them up. When both opponents stumbled, Taiyo seized the opportunity to lunge for the first brazier, which burst into light at his touch. Before he could go for the second, however, the staff wielder had used her weapon to vault across the space between them and swing one booted foot towards his collarbone. Taiyo lifted an arm to block, and the force of the blow sent him skidding backward. After two more thwarted attempts to reach the second brazier, the light in the first brazier faded.

Taiyo cursed. He'd forgotten that the crystals only stayed bright for one minute, which meant that he only had one minute to get to the second brazier after touching the first one. He cursed again when several steely threads lashed around his left ankle and attempted to yank his leg out from under him. He yanked back, sweeping one hand down at the same time in a cutting motion. Emerald green flames flashed, momentarily tracing the threads in green fire, and the small woman yelped, snatching her hands back from the stinging heat.

"Not bad," Natsu remarked. "Do you think his Fire Magic is green for a reason? Or is it just because he thinks it looks cool?"

"It's hard to tell from here," Zeref said, "but my guess is that he believes it looks cool."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Yumi created several blocks of ice like steps for Taiyo to use. The ice doubled as obstacles that made it more difficult for the opposing team to snag her or her partner with their attacks. Their opponent's spell-reinforced, bronze staff smashed easily through the ice, but its wielder was limited by the reach of her weapon.

"So what was this idea you mentioned?" Natsu asked.

Zeref explained while they watched the rest of the match, which ended when the staff wielder accidentally let fly with a lightning bolt when trying to stop Taiyo from reaching a brazier. The lightning bolt struck one of the crystal, which blazed like a tiny star for a split second then shattered with a sound like exploding glass.

The audience gasped, laughed, and applauded. Amidst the ruckus, the losing team cleared off the field and, after a glance at Zeref to make sure he was sure about this, Natsu stepped out into the vacated space to issue their challenge.

.

Remi stood on one side of the playing field with his arms folded across his chest. From this location, he could both referee the matches and keep an eye on the lake at the same time. He'd seen this game played countless times while he was a student. His magic teacher greatly disapproved of wasting energy, and since most of his students intended to become craftsmen, property damage was also severely frowned upon. Thus simply blasting away with powerful spells was a sure way to lose this competition, as was being too hasty and careless since the crystals broke so easily. That was why it was so difficult to light them from a distance, even though it was possible to do so by tossing magical energy at them. Depending on the nature of one's spells, immobilizing one's opponents and then going for the braziers was probably the easiest strategy since you didn't have to worry about timing. Another popular tactic was to have half the team focus on support and guarding one's own braziers while the other half went on the offensive. This was what Taiyo and Yumi had chosen to do.

When the newest set of challengers took the field, Remi thought they were going to attempt the same thing. The wild-haired one who had introduced himself as Natsu positioned himself in the front of their half of the field while his companion lingered behind him closer to the twin braziers. The wild-haired Fire Wizard, if Fire Wizard he really was, was all lean, wiry muscle and looked more like a fist fighter than a wizard. He wore no coat or cloak, only a vest and long pants, but did not seem at all bothered by the late night cold. In sharp contrast, his partner was almost completely obscured by a long, gray cloak so that all Remi could really tell about him was that he was thin and appeared to have pale skin. That could be black hair showing from under the hood, or it could be some other dark color, made darker by the ship's nighttime lights. What had the other one called him earlier? Era? Strange to be named after a time period, but Remi had heard stranger.

"Ready," Remi called out, lifting one hand, "set, go."

He let his hand drop.

Taiyo immediately charged forward with a battle cry, a small, green fireball springing into life above his right hand. Behind him, Yumi created a wall of ice between her team's braziers and the rest of the field before focusing her attention on the unfolding fight.

Unperturbed by the fireball, Natsu sidestepped Taiyo's attack and grabbed his wrist, using the white-haired wizard's own momentum to send him flying back towards Yumi. Remi expected him to launch straight into an attack of his own, but instead, Natsu remained standing where he was, grinning like a shark still slowly circling its prey. The shipwright raised his eyebrows and glanced at Era. The other wizard's hands were moving, but Remi couldn't tell what he was actually doing. It looked more like he was playing a peculiar game of cat's cradle with himself than spell casting.

"So you know how to fight, huh?" Taiyo commented, falling into a crouch and taking a second to reassess the situation.

Natsu smirked. "Certainly seems so, doesn't it?"

The fight began in earnest then. Knowing that his opponent was also a Fire Wizard, Taiyo went straight for his own fire spells, only just remembering to cut down the power so that he didn't scorch the deck—or any of the spectators, for that matter. In contrast, Natsu used almost no magic at all. He deflected or countered all of Taiyo's attacks with his bare hands, apparently unconcerned by the possibility of burns, and summoned up fistfuls of red-gold fire only to destroy the icy barricades that Yumi attempted to set in place. The air began to grow cloudy with steam even with the breeze carrying puffs of it away.

"Don't underestimate me!" Taiyo snarled, frustrated.

"If you want to fight me at full power, I'm afraid you'll have to challenge me back on land," Natsu informed him, dodging a blast of fire and lashing out with his foot. It connected with the backs of Taiyo's knees and sent him sprawling. "Era says he doesn't want to swim today."

Remi prided himself on his magical perception. He'd been at the top of his class when it came to sensing and identifying spells cast by others. It was also what made him so skilled at illusions and concealment magic. If it wasn't for this, Remi doubted that he would have been able to notice the web of magic that now crisscrossed the playing field. It reminded the shipwright of the threads that the wizard from the first team had used, except that these threads consisted of pure energy and were completely invisible. They ran along the boundaries of the field, high enough to avoid most of Yumi's icy creations, and arched up over the wall she had placed before the braziers she was guarding.

Was that what Era had been doing?

Remi's question was answered when Era's hands stilled and, as though at some unseen signal, Natsu summoned a point of fire like a tiny candle flame and tossed it behind him. Era lifted his hands as though to catch the spark in an invisible net suspended between his fingers, and then suddenly, the ship's foredeck blazed. Golden fire traced a web of lines through the air, racing along the lines of energy and devouring that energy as it went. In the blink of an eye, the two braziers situated at the converging point of all the pathways flared into brilliant, blinding life. For a second, Remi thought that the two had overdone it and the whole lot of crystals would shatter together, but then the radiance dimmed and steadied.

There was a moment of stunned and confused silence in which all the other wizards onboard tried to sort out what had just happened, then several people began to clap. Remi let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Now that was new.

Taiyo dragged his jaw up from the floor and demanded, "How did you do that?"

Before either of the two wizards could reply, someone by the railing gasped and shouted, "The water! Look at the water!"


	24. Shipwreck

There were lights under the water—large splotches of yellow and blue that wavered and shifted, distorted by the waves. People gathered along the railing, peering into the murky depths with a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and awe. Whatever was down there, it had to be vast. The lights weren't only on one side of the ship. They could be seen under the water in every direction, surrounding the ship and casting an eerie glow upon the lake's surface.

"Remember," Remi shouted, his eyes never leaving the underwater lights, "if this ship gets destroyed, I've designed it to break apart in such a way that it will release several smaller vessels—lifeboats, if you will. Those will be able to move faster than this, and all you have to do to steer them is tell them what direction you want to go. They should be easier to fight from as well."

A wizard near him exclaimed, "Wait, are you telling us that you're expecting this ship to be destroyed?"

The shipwright didn't answer, but the grim set of his jaw indicated that the answer to that question was yes.

Still standing in the middle of the foredeck where he had been during the game, Zeref could sense something vast beneath the ship. Something unlike anything he had ever encountered before—and that was saying something, all considered.

"What is it?" Natsu asked. He stood beside the shorter wizard, face turned into the breeze and sharp eyes scanning the water for any signs of movement.

"I'm... not sure. It doesn't actually feel malicious though."

"No," Natsu agreed. "It sounds hungry."

"Sounds—?"

Before Zeref could finish asking the question, a shrieking cry erupted from the water along with several long, dark shapes. Zeref's first thought was that they were being attacked by giant serpents, but the dark green coil that lashed around and snapped the ship's prow was not covered in scales. By the light that emanated from patches of strange moss scattered along the creatures' bodies, he could see that they had no eyes or other features, only massive, gaping jaws lined with needle-like teeth.

One serpentine creature lunged for them. Natsu struck it with a blast of fire that , somewhat to his own surprise, set the whole front end of it ablaze. The air filled with the a muddy, acrid stench like burning swamps. It reared back, screaming and thrashing, then plunged back under the water only to be replaced by two other, identical beasts.

"It smells like burnt vegetables," Natsu said, puzzled. "You don't think—could these things actually be plants?"

Zeref watched another wizard slice through a giant, green tendril that more resembled a tree root than a tentacle. The severed tip thudded to the deck but continued to twist and writhe, leaking some kind of clear liquid from the wound that very much looked like regular old water.

"Not plants," Zeref said slowly, reevaluating what he had sensed below their feet. "Plant. I think there's only one."

Natsu diverted another tendril attempting to rip off a section of the ship's railing before replying. "So these things are all connected, huh? A giant, carnivorous, plant monster. What do you think is going on in this lake?"

A very good question—which they would have to ask again at a later time.

The lake's surface roiled as though caught in a tempest, coils and tendrils of rubbery green monster churning it into a frothing cauldron bathed in blue and yellow light. The ship rocked and lurched, the enchantments upon it unable to shield it from turbulence of this magnitude. The deck heaved and tilted crazily beneath their feet, sending everything that hadn't been bolted down tumbling towards the waiting water. Dishes, mugs, uneaten snacks, and somebody's purse all disappeared overboard, and they would have been followed by a couple wizards if they hadn't grabbed a hold of the railing before they could be flung over it. The braziers spun past them, one getting lodged between the deck and the railing, and the crystals they had held scattered across the wooden floorboards.

Zeref ducked to avoid being hit in the head by a metal pot and then got tossed up off his feet when the ship lurched, propelled upward by a gigantic wave. Even as the ship fell, the largest of the serpentine appendages managed to wrap itself around the ship's middle. It ignored all the spells that struck it and squeezed. Wooden boards splintered beneath it, and water gushed up onto the deck as the entire ship began to break apart.

This, Zeref thought, was not exactly what he had had in mind when they'd talked of leaving town.

He didn't have time to think about this further, however, because Natsu had grabbed him and was half dragging, half carrying him across the sinking vessel. When the dragon wizard reached the railing, he bundled Zeref into his arms and leapt. Zeref shut his eyes, slightly disoriented, only opening them again when Natsu landed on the lifeboat he'd been aiming for and set him down.

"Anyone else heading this way?" a familiar voice called to them from the front of the boat.

It seemed that they'd ended up sharing a vessel with Taiyo and Yumi. The woman with the bronze staff was there too, firing off lightning bolts at the monster.

"No," Natsu shouted back over the creature's echoing wails. "We're the last ones."

"Right then." Taiyo pounded a fist on the side of the lifeboat. "Hey, boat or whatever, go forward. Forward!"

It was a little inappropriate considering the situation, but the sight made Zeref want to laugh. It just looked so ridiculous somehow.

A second later, the lifeboat shot forward, almost throwing everyone out of it. Natsu crouched, dragging Zeref down with him.

"Not so fast, damn it!" Taiyo shouted, grabbing the side of the vessel with both hands and hanging on for dear life. A serpentine neck loomed up out of the darkness before them, and his shouts turned to, "Left, left, left!"

The boat veered left, almost turning onto its side and forcing everyone to grab for the right-hand edge of the small craft.

"Stop shouting at it!" Yumi cried, lifting an arm to shield her face from an icy spray of lake water. "It must be responding to the panic in your voice."

"I am not panicking!"

"Whatever, just try speaking more calmly, please."

It took several more tries, but they eventually got the boat to settle down. Once it had, Yumi switched places with Taiyo so that she could steer while he focused on attacking along with the others.

Flashes of light from various spells lit the night around them, brighter than the glow of the blue and yellow moss. Natsu disposed of another serpentine head with a blast of fire then turned to Zeref.

"Do you have a way for us to hit the main body? There's no end to these things."

Zeref held on to the side of the boat and leaned over a little to peer into the swirling water. It was impossible to actually see anything down there, but the thing was easy enough to sense.

"You said your fire can burn even underwater?" he asked.

"That's right," Natsu said.

"I have a fire spell that can too," Taiyo chipped in, determined not to be outdone.

Zeref considered this. "We might be able to do something similar to what we used in the brazier game, and create a pathway down to the plant's heart with my magic that your spells can use so neither of you have to go down there yourselves. It'll be easier if we could get the plant to stop moving around so much though."

"What about that wizard with the energy sapping spells?" Natsu suggested.

"That might work, provided we can find him." Zeref looked at the other wizards. "I don't suppose any of you are telepathic?"

Unfortunately, the answer was no.

They spent the next hectic half hour careening this way and that through the maelstrom, searching for the wizard from the second match. They did not find him, but they did find a telepath on one of the other lifeboats, and she was able to help them contact the wizard in question and relay their plans. Soon after, the air filled with semitransparent, white feathers like a flock of phantom birds was molting crazily over their heads.

"Tell him to be more careful," Yumi shouted, turning their boat sharply to the right to avoid a cloud of energy-draining feathers. "We still have to fight, you know."

"He says to tell you it's not that easy," the telepath shouted back.

"Do they have to be shaped like feathers?" Natsu asked. "Maybe he can make it look like a giant fish and get them to eat it or something."

The telepath didn't reply, but she had probably heard because the first wave of feathers was followed by a rain of phantom fish. The fish had feathers instead of scales and looked seriously malformed, but they had the desired affect. More than a dozen of them vanished into the monster's many mouths, and gradually, its movements became more sluggish.

"That should be enough," Zeref muttered, hands moving quickly as he took his own raw energy and reshaped it, casting it down into the water. It was largely about picturing what he wanted and then holding that image in his mind.

"Better hurry," Natsu told him, fending off yet another muddy green tendril attempting to lash around their boat. "The longer we stay in one spot, the more it attacks us."

"I know." Zeref finished what he was doing, double checked what he had created with what he sensed from the monster, then said, "Okay. Now."

Taiyo yelped. "Wait, wait! You haven't explained what I'm supposed to do yet."

"Think of it as a fuse line," Zeref told him. "All you have to do is light your end."

It sounded easy, and it was easy... All the way up until gold and green flames collided with the base of the mutant plant beneath the waves and everything exploded.

.

When Zeref opened his eyes again, he found himself staring up into Natsu's worried face. He was lying on what felt like sand, and the sky was streaked with shades of gray.

"I'm glad you're awake," Natsu said, sitting back.

Zeref tried to speak, coughed, then tried again. "I was trying to amplify the flames, but I think I may have overdone it."

Natsu snorted. "Practically blew everyone out of the water. Although it wasn't just the magic. Judging by the smell, the thing probably had a good deal of gas in it."

Zeref coughed again. His throat felt like sandpaper.

"Hold on a second," Natsu said, turning to someone Zeref couldn't see. "Hey, could I get some of that water over here?"

Yumi's voice drifted back to them. "One moment. Taiyo, I told you I needed you to melt this five minutes ago."

"Okay, okay. Sheesh, can't a guy get any rest?"

Natsu helped Zeref into a sitting position and handed him the cup that the Ice Wizard brought over. Zeref held the steaming drink for a moment before taking a sip and asking, "Where are we?"

"Some beach on the west side of the lake," Natsu replied. "We managed to salvage some of our supplies, but the boat was totally destroyed."

"Do you know what happened to the other lifeboats?"

"No, but I'm sure everyone's fine. We were the closest to the explosion, and we all made it out okay."

Even the normal humans.

A small campfire fueled by driftwood burned on the sand a few paces away from them. After melting Yumi's ice to give them a supply of water, Taiyo had flopped back down on the other side of it, visibly exhausted. Down by the water line, the tall, thin figure of the Lightning Wizard could be seen walking slowly this way and that, leaning on her staff while she searched the shallows for any other useful debris.

Yumi seated herself as close to the fire as she could, plucking at her clothes and holding the wet fabric away from her skin.

"You're going to catch a cold, you know," Taiyo said without opening his eyes.

"I'll live," she answered. "It's not like any of us have dry clothes to switch into."

"I told you I'd dry them out for you if you took them off."

"No way."

"Suit yourself. I promised not to look."

She didn't respond to this, saying instead, "We can rest here for a few hours then start heading back to Sage Town. I don't think we're that far away from the river. The shoreline's rough, but with our magic, it shouldn't be too difficult."

"Beats waiting around to be rescued," Taiyo said.

Natsu sat down so Zeref could lean against him. He'd already toasted his own clothes and dried out the other boy's cloak, although he couldn't do much for the rest of Zeref's clothes without burning him. Zeref wasn't shivering though, so it was probably enough for now. Could the dark-haired wizard even catch colds?

"We should probably let you know," Zeref said quietly, looking down into his cup, "that we will not be returning with you."

"What?" Taiyo lifted his head off the sand to look over at them. "But what about the reward money? A share of it's definitely ours."

"We don't really care about the reward money," Natsu said. "We're really just here in this area looking for someone. We already know she's not in Sage Town, so there's no point in us going back."

"Who?"

"A healer called the Ghost Lady. Ever heard of her?"

Taiyo grimaced and let his head drop back to the ground. "Sorry, can't say I have."

He sighed then added, "After I get that reward money, maybe I'll skip town myself. Too many of those Rune Knights around right now. They kind of ruin the atmosphere."

"Talking about the knights?" The other woman had returned. She sat down cross-legged beside Yumi and lay her staff down horizontally in front of her. "By the way, I don't believe I've formally introduced myself to you yet. Era, right? My name is Andrea. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Zeref acknowledged her greeting with a nod.

She turned back to Taiyo and said, "You really shouldn't complain so much about the knights. It just makes you look suspicious, and it's not like you have anything to worry about. At least you're registered with a proper guild."

"And you're not?"

Andrea shrugged. "I'm not, and I don't want to be. They can call me a dark wizard if they want, but I've never hired myself out as an assassin or used my magic to hurt people."

"But why not just join a guild then?" Taiyo asked. "Seems like it would be easier."

"I'm just not interested. Guilds just create more factions and room for conflict. I don't want any part of that."

The others were silent for awhile, thinking this over.

"I guess I can understand that," Taiyo said finally. "There's definitely a lot of politics involved, and I can't deny that there's a lot of that "us" and "them" sort of talk."

"I'm not part of a guild either," Yumi spoke up quietly. "I'm not sure I need to be though. I mean, I already have a steady job."

"Yeah? In Sage Town? What do you do?"

She flushed, the color clear on her pale cheeks. "None of you are allowed to laugh if I tell you."

"Now I want to know too," Andrea said. "We promise not to laugh."

Yumi dropped her gaze to her empty water cup, turning it this way and that. "I help make ice cream in the Crystal Heart sweets shop."

"I've been there!" Taiyo exclaimed, propping himself up on one elbow. "Their ice cream's really famous, you know. I'll ask for you next time I go there, and maybe you can get me a discount. The stuff's expensive for dessert."

Yumi laughed. "I'm glad you like it, but we never give discounts on the ice cream."

The wizards continued to banter, and Zeref listened quietly, tucked against Natsu's side. This conversation felt so normal, and the strange thing was that, even though neither he nor Natsu were joining in on the chatter, they still felt like part of it. Now and then, the other wizards glanced their way to see if they had anything to add. But when they didn't, no one seemed bothered. Perhaps having fought together side by side was helpful in that regard, or perhaps all of them were just accustomed to other people's eccentricities.

Gradually, the conversation died down, and the three wizards made themselves comfortable on the sand for a short nap. After awhile, the only sounds left on the beach were the crackle of the campfire and the hushed melody of the lake water lapping upon the shore.

Zeref shut his eyes, letting the tranquility of the moment settle into his bones. Then he turned his head a little to look up at Natsu.

"Can I ask what you're thinking about?"

The dragon glanced away from the campfire and down at the boy curled up under his arm. Absently, Natsu lifted a hand to tug at a lock of black hair, running the strands through his fingers. After getting doused in the lake, Zeref's hair had dried in a disheveled mess, which was probably a good thing since it made him look less like the sketch on his wanted poster.

"I was just thinking," Natsu said finally, "that maybe being human's not so bad."

"You say that now after getting shipwrecked and attacked by a giant, mutant plant monster?"

Natsu chuckled. "You have to admit that it was kind of exciting."

"Exciting is not the word I would choose."

Zeref let out a soft breath and looked back towards the lake. In the pale morning light, the water had gone from appearing almost black to taking on hues of deep blue and green. There was no sign that any kind of battle had been fought upon it mere hours ago. The water had swallowed up or washed away all the wreckage.

"I'm not sure where we're supposed to go from here."

He felt Natsu shrug.

"Keep following the lake shore towards the mountains. Xander said he'd mail our stuff to the next town over for us—somewhere called Reed. And he'll include any articles he finds that might be helpful."

Reed.

Zeref brought up an image of their map in his mind, trying to remember where that particular town had been located.

"Well, at least we're on the correct side of the lake. Do you think it would be all right if we just left now?"

"While they're all asleep, you mean?" Natsu asked. "I don't see why not. We're not going back with them, so it really shouldn't matter to them. Can you walk?"

"I believe so. I'm not hurt. The backlash from that spell just caught me by surprise."

A whisper stopped them just as they rose to their feet.

"Excuse me."

So the others weren't all asleep after all.

Yumi sat up, rummaged through the supplies they'd managed to fish from the lake, and held a water bottle out to them.

"It might be hard to stay close to the water," she said. "You'll need it more than we will."

"Thank you," Zeref said, accepting the bottle. "I'm sorry that we won't be staying to help."

"That's all right. I'm sure you have your reasons." Yumi hesitated, then added, "A wizard friend of mine got poisoned on a job last year. He said he might have died if he hadn't run into this woman in the mountains."

Yumi waved towards the mountains that loomed along the lake's northern shore. "Apparently, she has a small cottage hidden away up there. He wanted to pay her, but she wouldn't take any money. She had him gathering herbs for her instead, and he said she owned all sorts of spell books he'd never seen before. He wouldn't tell me where she lives exactly because she threatened to curse him if he told anyone., but he said that if I ever needed a powerful healer, he'd take me to see her. And I remember that when he met her, he said he was following a path of white stones, trying to find his way down out of the mountains. I don't know if she's that Ghost Lady you mentioned, but if you need a wizard healer for some reason, maybe you should look for her."

This tidbit of information surprised both dragon and wizard, but they recollected themselves quickly.

"Thanks," Natsu said. "We will."

.

Yumi watched the pair grow smaller and smaller as they walked away along the beach, vanishing after several long minutes around a rocky outcropping. She wasn't sure why she'd told them about her friend's near-death experience in the mountains. Maybe it was because watching them made her homesick. She wondered how Clara was doing, and if the younger woman's parents were still snubbing her. Yumi wished she could be there for her, but all of them needed the money she was making at the sweets shop. If only Clara would agree to move to Sage Town.

"You didn't sleep?" Taiyo asked, sitting up and letting out a huge yawn.

"I'll sleep when we get back to town."

"I hope you don't regret that." He glanced towards the empty spot on the sand and commented, "They didn't say goodbye."

Yumi shrugged. "No, but they asked us to pass on a message to our employers."

"Yeah?"

"They need to send someone to examine the plant's remains and see what caused it to become what it became. If they don't figure that out, it might just happen again."

Taiyo thought this over and nodded. "That should be easy enough to remember. Hey, could I get some more ice? I'm parched."


	25. A Shared Moment

They hadn't planned on lingering in Reed. But the workers in the post office where they'd picked up their package talked nonstop about the concert taking place that evening, and then out in the streets, they'd run into a girl passing out coupons for a local hot spring resort—the kind with little, private cabins instead of regular hotel rooms. Due to the lake monster, tourists and other travelers had been scarce, so prices had been reduced dramatically. It really was a great deal, especially after the last few days of unexpectedly difficult travel. It was no wonder that people preferred to cross Eden Lake by boat. Not only were large sections of the shore rocky and devoid of proper trails, all there was to look at when the lake wasn't in sight were rocks and dry, sandy dirt.

One thing led to another, and by the time afternoon rolled around, they'd booked a cabin, taken a bath, and eaten a resplendent meal in a private room at the resort's restaurant. Then there was the wind instrument concert.

"I don't think this is allowed," Zeref said, watching Natsu scale the side of the house.

"Says who?" Natsu asked, holding a hand out to him. "Come on."

Zeref looked at the hand, hesitated, then accepted it and allowed Natsu to help him climb up as well—from the ground to the first-floor roof, then from there to the second and then the third. It was a pretty big building.

"This appears to be a private residence. I imagine that the people who live here would object."

"It's not like we're breaking in," Natsu replied, sounding perfectly reasonable. "We're just borrowing their roof for awhile. They'll never know we were even here."

"What if they come home while we're still here?"

"Then we run really fast."

At the expression on Zeref's face, Natsu added, "We'll pick a spot where we'll be able to see them but they won't be able to see us, all right? Don't worry. Anyway, I'll know if anyone gets close way before a human could actually see anything."

Zeref relented. He was already on the roof after all. It was a bit late to change his mind.

Besides, the concert was starting soon.

This particular roof—covered in smooth, slate blue shingles—belonged to a large house not that far from a plaza where several rows of wooden benches had been set up before a makeshift stage. It was a far cry from the grand concert halls that could be found in cities like Crocus, but that didn't stop people from being excited. It was also free, which was something for people to get excited about all on its own. According to the post office chatter, the concert would serve to showcase the reed pipes and flutes that the town was famous for and provide new musicians an opportunity to be heard. The performers listed in the program for that evening included both master musicians and amateurs, and rumor had it that several of the songs had been composed specially for tonight.

The two wizards settled themselves next to a chimney from which they had a fairly decent view of the plaza. Whether they would be able to hear well enough from here to enjoy the concert, however, remained to be seen. The benches down below had already filled with audience members, who scrunched together to make room for the people who were still arriving.

Good thing the two of them hadn't tried for a spot in the plaza. Zeref would have had to leave almost immediately.

It was a bit chilly up here, but at least it was safe. It helped, too, that the moment they'd sat down, Natsu had pulled him into his arms. Like he'd promised, the dragon was patient with Zeref's skittishness. But he was persistent too, and that persistence was paying off.

"I don't know how you're doing it," Zeref had told him the night before when they'd made camp in a small hollow with a view of the lake. "But it's working."

To which the dragon had simply replied, "Good."

Now, settled together on a roof they probably weren't supposed to be on with a concert scheduled to start in five minutes, Zeref found himself unexpectedly at ease. Since they still had some time, he pulled the folded piece of parchment that had arrived with their belongings from his pocket.

"Is it from Xander?" Natsu asked, peering over his shoulder at the page crammed with careful if somewhat spindly handwriting.

"It is," Zeref said, scanning the letter's contents. A crease formed between his brows. "He says there have been several kidnappings in Sage Town."

Natsu scowled. "You mean the kind with ransom notes? Or the kind where you just never see them again?"

"They don't know yet, but he says not to worry because the Rune Knights are helping."

That made Natsu pause. "They are? Did the kidnappers use magic?"

"No, but apparently, the captain that's just arrived in Sage Town said that kidnappings should be everybody's business."

It was obvious from the tone of Zeref's voice that he approved of this philosophy. Natsu did too, actually, which just went to show that even people you considered your enemies could be good people.

The crease in Zeref's brow deepened as he read on.

"Problem?" Natsu asked. He found it difficult to identify any of the words himself. Xander's handwriting seemed designed to be as fancy and illegible as possible.

Zeref rested the letter on his knee and bit his lower lip. "He says... that he's heard they've recruited Dragon Slayers. Two of them, assuming it's not just rumor. They haven't arrived in Sage Town yet, but it's only a matter of time."

Natsu mulled this over. "Well, if they haven't found the kidnappers and missing people by then, Dragon Slayers should be a lot of help. Assuming their dragons taught them properly."

"They might figure out that you're traveling with me," Zeref said, turning anxious eyes to his companion's face.

"So?"

"I don't want to get you involved. They're only after me."

Natsu rolled his eyes. "You do remember how we met, don't you? I got involved a long time ago, and I don't regret it."

"But, Natsu—"

The dragon wizard put a finger to Zeref's lips to quiet him.

"The concert's starting. Really, don't worry so much. It's a terrible way to spend time when you should be having fun."

Zeref looked away, dropping his gaze back to the plaza.

The first song was a duet, played by two musicians using different types of flutes—one high and clear and one low and a little airy. The two melodies overlapped and intertwined in a slow, sweet dance that somehow managed to feel both warm and calm. The audience fell silent, listening, and some of the turmoil in Zeref's heart eased. It really was a beautiful evening.

"Besides," Natsu murmured next to his ear. "It's not about hoping that things don't go wrong. It's about making sure that even if things do go wrong, we make them right again."

.

By the first intermission, Zeref had finally managed to put away his worries—if only for the time being. They chatted about the different songs, guessing at what had inspired them and then checking the notes in the program to see if they'd been right. There were melodies meant to mimic the twitter of birds and the burble of water flowing over rocky streambeds. Some songs tried to recreate the lively rhythm of a midsummer dance or to invoke the forlorn, lingering ache of a heartfelt farewell. And then, of course, there were love songs like that first duet.

"Humans really are weirdly interested in other people's relationships," Natsu remarked after they read the story behind yet another love song—the seventh one so far out of twelve compositions.

"Dragons don't gossip about these things?" Zeref asked, amused.

"Not really. But then I suppose the whole courting process is rather a lot simpler for us. Humans make everything so complicated."

"Do we? I've never really paid attention."

"Yeah." Natsu made a face, although Zeref had his back to him and couldn't see it. "Xander kept going on about things like creating the right atmosphere and what was or wasn't romantic, which didn't make any sense at all. He also told me that it varies a lot from place to place, but it's often traditional to give gifts like flowers. Not very practical, if you ask me. I mean, what good are they? You can't eat flowers."

"You asked Xander about human courtship customs?" Zeref asked, incredulous. "Why?"

"Because I wasn't sure if I was going about it all wrong, or if there was something I ought to do that would make it all make more sense to you and help get my point across. I didn't think you'd want flowers though."

"No. They would probably just die."

And that would be... upsetting.

Zeref lifted a hand to the ivory pendant around his neck, tracing the smooth patterns upon its surface. The gesture was starting to become a habit. He felt warm, and it wasn't because the evening breeze had grown any less chilly. It was endearing, the effort Natsu put into trying to understand humans in general and Zeref in particular. He really didn't need to do anything special though.

"For the record," Zeref said quietly, "I like simple. I think simple is good."

The intermission ended and the next song began—an energetic and playful tune played on seven different instruments. It was amazing, Zeref thought, how anyone could come up with seven different melodies that all managed to harmonize with one another. As far as he was concerned, that was far more miraculous a feat than anything magic could accomplish.

When the song ended, Natsu said, responding to Zeref's earlier words, "That's good. I'm not that great at complicated."

Zeref turned to look at him then. The sky had grown dark enough that several lamps had been lit down in the plaza, but there was still enough light up on the roof for Zeref to make out his companion's features.

Natsu caught his gaze and asked, "So... does this count as a good memory?"

The tone of the question was light, but the expression on Natsu's face was serious.

Zeref didn't know how to describe the emotions that flooded him at that moment. They were soft and warm—and possibly a little fuzzy, if fuzzy could be used to describe emotions. He wished he knew how to tell Natsu what he was feeling, but somehow, none of the words that came to mind seemed quite right.

Well, there was one thing he could do that wouldn't require any words.

Zeref hesitated, steeling his nerves, then leaned forward tentatively to brush his lips against Natsu's. It wasn't so much a kiss as an invitation—an invitation that Natsu was happy to take. He pulled Zeref closer and moved a hand to cradle the back of the wizard's head as he pressed their mouths more firmly together. And when he ran his tongue along the line of the wizard's lips, Zeref tensed for only a fraction of a second before relaxing again and letting him in.

Natsu felt a certain thrill when Zeref settled against him, melting into his caresses. Maybe there was something to be said for humans being such warm and soft sort of creatures. Or maybe he was just incredibly biased now because of how much he wanted this human in his arms. This human who was capable of caring so much, who was so sincere in his words and actions, and who shed tears for others as easily as he shed them for himself. This human whose smile and laughter made Natsu grin.

Natsu was absolutely certain of one thing. He was never ever letting this person go.

.

In the end, they stayed in Reed for three nights before beginning their trip up into the mountains. In addition to the concert, they participated in a flute playing workshop their second evening, in which they learned that they were both really terrible flute players. Mostly though, they lazed about the resort restaurant and their cabin, testing out the private hot spring in their yard and reviewing the newspaper articles that Xander had dug up for them on various healers in the towns and villages around Eden Lake. It felt very much like a vacation, and both of them were sorry to say goodbye to the place. But gradually, the passenger ships that used to traverse the lake were beginning to sail again, and so on the fourth morning after arriving in the isolated little town, they packed up their belongings, checked out of the resort which was disappointed to see them and their money go, and continued on their way.


	26. Library in the Cliffs

It was late summer, and they couldn't have stumbled upon a better time to hike through these mountains. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful, and after the first day of walking, the rocky mountainside gave way to lush forests broken now and then by stretches of emerald green grass. Neither of them actually knew where they were going. The only concrete clue they had was Yumi's story and the mention of a path made of white stones, but that was okay. They figured that they would know what they were looking for when they saw it.

Besides, they had a lot on their minds, and they could use this time without the problems posed by the presence of other people to figure out the changes between them. The last two weeks or so had completely redefined the boundaries of their relationship, and they were still working out what those were. Or at least Zeref was still adjusting. Natsu seemed to have his own agenda on the matter, and anyway, he'd had a lot more time to think about this.

Zeref was starting to get used to falling asleep in someone's arms, although waking up was still marked by the occasional moment of horrified panic. A few trees and patches of grass paid the price, but all in all, these lapses weren't nearly as frequent as he might have predicted. Natsu took every opportunity that presented itself to kiss him, although he was always careful to give Zeref a chance to pull away if he needed to. Zeref, in turn, worked on managing his instinctive impulse to do just that. He couldn't always stop himself from tensing up, especially when a touch was unexpected, but—bit by bit—he was getting better.

As he had commented to Natsu, this was actually working. And despite all the new anxieties and bouts of stress that accompanied this new closeness, Zeref found that there was a strange kind of peace too.

This, he thought with some bemusement, was why so many fairytales were love stories.

Not that there was anything magical about their relationship. To call it that wouldn't have done justice to all the effort that they were putting into building it.

.

Natsu took to hunting again, and Zeref cracked down to studying the cookbooks they'd collected—focusing in particular on the vegetables. Deer, boar, rabbit, and poultry were all well and good, but Zeref did, in fact, like vegetables. Besides, they were an important part of a balanced and healthy diet.

Vegetables also didn't scream, bleed, or run away in terror, which Zeref privately thought made them a preferable food source to the animals Natsu preyed on. Of course, when you were immortal and didn't have to eat to survive, you could afford to be picky.

"I never realized how many edible plants could be found out in the wild," Zeref told Natsu one morning over a pot of rabbit stew.

"What I want to know is how people even thought of trying to eat any of those plants in the first place," Natsu said. "It's not like they look particularly tasty. They don't really smell all that special either, although I admit I'm probably biased."

"I assume that a human saw some other animal eating them and decided to give them a try," Zeref said after some thought. "I've always wondered how anyone came up with how to make bread. I don't believe bread occurs naturally in the wild, and it's hard to imagine someone throwing together all the right ingredients by accident."

Natsu laughed. "Yeah, now that's definitely a mystery. Next time we're in a town, we can ask a baker."

Zeref stirred the stew with a ladle. He was growing rather fond of all this collapsible cookware that they'd bought—the metal pot especially. It was all just so convenient. Whoever had designed the things had been ingenious.

When the stew was ready, he scooped out a bowl for himself and Natsu took the rest of the pot. The dragon didn't see any point in adding one more bowl to the list of items they needed to clean when he was just going to finish the rest of the stew anyway.

They'd only just begun to eat, however, when Natsu caught the scent of another human on the breeze. He set down his lunch and glared into the underbrush.

"I don't like people sneaking around us," he said, raising his voice. "I suggest you show yourself if you don't want to be deep fried."

He emphasized this threat by calling up a flame in one fist.

The bushes rustled, and a child stumbled into the clearing, almost tripping over a bramble that snagged at his ankle.

"I wasn't trying to sneak, honest," he said, holding both his hands up in front of him as though to ward them off. "I was just out looking for some stuff, and, um, I haven't had lunch and I smelled the cooking..."

The boy's stomach growled loudly, and his face went red.

Natsu scrutinized him for a moment longer, but the child seemed like he was telling the truth. Several sprigs of a leafy plant were visible peeking out from the basket on his arm, and Natsu could tell from the scent that they'd just been pulled from the earth. The dragon sighed, grumbled a little, and glanced at Zeref, who mutely took out a clean bowl.

The child accepted the bowl of stew eagerly, devouring it in record time and asking hopefully for seconds.

Zeref filled a second bowl for him, although Natsu was starting to develop an annoyed tick on his brow.

"You said you were out here looking for something?" Zeref asked, hoping to divert the dragon's attention to something other than the human child stealing his lunch.

"That's right." The boy jerked his chin towards his basket. "My family has a small farm further up the mountain. Mom and Dad have both been a little sick though, so I'm gathering medicine for them."

Zeref frowned. "So those plants are medicine?"

"Fever reducers, or something like that," the boy said, nodding. "The healer woman told me so, and she knows all about these things."

This finally drew Natsu's attention, and he asked, "What healer woman?"

"She lives in these mountains too," the boy replied quickly, relieved that the wild-haired man wasn't glowering at him anymore. "She doesn't really like to be bothered because of all the research she's doing or whatever, but she'll help you out if you run some errands for her."

"Is that so? I don't suppose you know where we can find her? We've been looking for a healer ourselves."

The child scrunched up his face in thought. "I really wish I could tell you. No one really knows where she lives, or at least no one I know. There aren't that many people around here, and we all live kind of far apart. We just see her around now and then, gathering herbs I guess. And she'll come around to trade for things like bread and eggs."

Zeref tried a different approach. "Is there anywhere around here where you can find white stones?"

The boy brightened. "Oh, that one's easy. You must be talking about Sky Road. Well, we call it a road, but it's really just a bunch of odd pathways that sort of help you find your way through the mountains and sort of don't. People say that they were created when a wizard tried to built a road up to heaven, only it made the gods angry and they destroyed it. The clouds he used for his spell fell to the earth and turned to stone."

The two wizards exchanged looks, wondering if that was what Yumi's friend had spoken of. It sounded promising either way.

"Could you give us directions to this Sky Road?" Zeref asked.

"Sure." The child set down his empty bowl and grinned at them. "It's the least I can do to thank you for the meal."

Later that afternoon found the trio hiking up a steep, dirt path out of the woods and through a field of knee-high, yellow grass. Natsu spotted the first stone almost as soon as the trees began to thin. It jutted up from the rippling, yellow sea like the horn of some giant beast. It resembled the obelisks that the dragon had seen at some human temples, except that it had five sides instead of the traditional four. The entire thing was chalk white, but when they reached it, they found that it was as hard as granite.

The path beneath their feet forked just past the stone, and their guide pointed towards the left.

"There are a lot more of them that way." He swung his finger towards the right hand path. "And my house is that way. I need to get these herbs home and boil them up for Mom and Dad, but if you wait awhile, I can come show you where Sky Road actually starts."

"Nah, that's all right," Natsu said. "Go look after your parents. We've got it from here."

"Are you sure?"

"We're sure," Zeref assured him. "You shouldn't keep your parents waiting. If they're sick, they'll need all the help you can give them."

The child hesitated for a moment longer, torn between keeping his promise to help them out and returning home with the medicine he'd spent all morning gathering. Then he squared his shoulders and nodded.

"I'll be going then. But please come and visit if you come back this way. Mom bakes the best bread on this side of the mountain, and she's been teaching me."

The wizards watched him run off with his basket clutched to his chest. Only after the child had disappeared from view did they return to their examination of the white obelisk.

"I wonder how many families there are living up here," Zeref said, thinking aloud.

"One's already one more than I expected," Natsu said. "I don't recall any settlements on the map. I thought most people preferred to live in and around towns or villages."

"Most people do," Zeref agreed. "It's certainly more convenient, but some people prefer not to deal with the complications that come with living in a community. I can see the attraction. It's rather nice up here."

"It looks like a lot of people have agreed with you," Natsu said, tapping the side of the obelisk. "This has got to be manmade."

"It doesn't appear to be magical," Zeref observed.

Natsu chuckled. "So it didn't used to be a cloud?"

"You can't tell me that you thought that story was true."

"Nah, but it would have been kind of cool." Natsu glanced along the narrow, dirt trail and added, "Come on, I can see the other stones. There are way more of them up ahead."

Like the child had described it, Sky Road turned out to be a collection of sprawling pathways marked by a scattering of white stones. They saw a handful of five-sided obelisks like the first one they'd seen, but there were other things too—cracked, stone spheres and chalk white blocks that looked like they might have once been part of a building. If there had ever been writing on any of them, weather and time had long since worn all traces of it away.

"It's almost eerie," Natsu said, pausing to inspect yet another stone slab that had been split straight down the middle. "Makes me curious what this all used to be."

Zeref surveyed the mountainside, which was covered with the same, strange stone debris. What it reminded him of, he realized, was an old graveyard.

"You can find the remnants of old civilizations in many unexpected places. They perish for a variety of reasons, but more than half of them destroy themselves."

"Yeah? How's that?"

"Some governments become too tyrannical and their people revolt. Some people become too ambitious and want more than they should. The existence of magic doesn't really help. Magic can be a terrible thing. I've seen whole cities that have just disappeared because of it. It can make people arrogant. People start to believe that they can do anything, and they lose sight of what's really important. They start thinking that they can just cast a spell and make the world a better place."

Natsu glanced sidelong at his companion, noting the downward tilt of his mouth. At moments like these, he was reminded that a great many past experiences, many of them probably bad, had gone into making Zeref the person that Natsu knew. Even though they had both been alive for more than a century, their backgrounds meant that they didn't perceive time in quite the same way. To a dragon, a century was hardly any time at all, but for a human, that was an entire lifetime. Perhaps that meant that they experienced the world a little differently too.

There were a lot of comments the dragon could have made, a lot of questions he could have asked. Instead, he grabbed the other boy's hand and started for one of the branching pathways.

"Let's go fishing!"

Zeref blinked, startled out of his solemn contemplations. "What?"

"There's running water nearby. If there's a river, then there's probably fish."

.

Sure, the river had fish in it, but it was a sheer drop of a dozen feet from the edge of the bank down to the water. The entire area was a maze of cliffs dotted with the occasional, scruffy tree clinging to life amidst the crags. There was a waterfall too, a spectacular curtain of silver falling straight down more than a hundred meters and sending up misty clouds of spray.

"If only there was some way to get closer to the water," Natsu said, peering over the cliff's edge. "It's not like we've got anything for a fishing line."

Zeref was looking at the waterfall and the rocky, blue-gray cliff face on either side of it. It could have been a trick of the light, but...

"Natsu, do those look like steps to you?"

"Huh? Steps?"

Natsu followed the direction of his gaze. Some of the shadows there did look a bit unusual.

"They could be, although if they are, whoever carved them didn't do it right. They're not even remotely even."

Uneven or not, they were able to half walk, half clamber up the cascade of steps—up the cliff face alongside the waterfall and then behind it. The tiny droplets flung into the air around them felt cool against their faces and made the rock damp beneath their hands. The climb ended in a cave that extended into the mountainside behind the veil of rushing water, its mouth a jagged crevice in the cliff face completely obscured from view by the waterfall itself.

Standing on the ledge at the cave mouth, Zeref could have reached out and touched the waterfall. It was strange, realizing that he could have wandered this way a year ago and never found this place. Traveling with Natsu was like learning to see the world again. Certainly, he did far more exploring than he'd ever done on his own. Before Natsu, traveling had always been about getting away, never about going to.

"This is pretty cool," he heard Natsu say from farther in. "If it was bigger, it might have made a nice lair. Hey, look at this."

Zeref left the mouth of the cave and followed the sound of Natsu's voice. When he saw what the dragon was examining, he did a double take.

There was a door set into the cave wall. It was carved from the same, blue-gray stone that formed the rest of the cave and was nearly invisible from a distance. The patterns etched upon its face were not unlike the natural grooves and scratches that adorned the wall around it, but Zeref's trained eyes could pick out purposeful patterns carefully worked into the stone.

Natsu felt around the edges of the door, frowning to himself. "How are you supposed to open this thing?"

"Let me try," Zeref said, joining him before the portal and reaching out to trace the engravings.

Before the wizard even had time to begin deciphering the marks, however, the lines began to glow with a very faint, gray-blue light. Then the entire door slid upward to reveal a corridor lit by glowing stones set into the ceiling.

"I think," Zeref said slowly, "that it was designed to open for a human."

"Which probably means that it was created by other humans," Natsu said, peering through the open doorway. "Weird. It smells kind of like a bookstore."

Or a library.

At the end of the corridor, they found themselves in a vast chamber with a long, gently sloping, spiral staircase running along its walls. From beside the stair railing, they could count the levels above and below them—fourteen in all, bathed in a silvery white light that emanated from a giant crystal suspended from the center of the vaulted ceiling far, far overhead. They had arrived upon the fourth level, and if they looked down, they could see a collection of irregularly shaped, stone tables upon the chamber floor. Countless open archways led off of the great staircase—some into hallways like the one through which they had entered and others into smaller chambers lined with laden bookshelves.

"This is incredible," Zeref said, leaning over the railing and craning his neck to look up at the levels above them. "There has to be thousands of books and scrolls in here. But why would someone build a library in these cliffs?"

"It's in good condition, but it smells ancient," Natsu said, glancing both ways along the staircase landing where they stood. "Someone else has been here recently though. Might still be here, in fact."

Zeref frowned. "Where?"

Without a word, Natsu gestured for his companion to follow him and started up the steps to their left. Every time they reached a landing, Zeref kept expecting them to turn into one of the branching rooms or hallways, but they had gone up almost five levels and passed more than three dozen archways before Natsu stopped. The dragon's eyes narrowed, and he held out an arm to prevent Zeref from stepping past him. The wizard opened his mouth to ask him what was wrong, but before the words had even left his mouth, he spotted movement from the far end of a row of shelves.

A woman stood there, her right hand raised—just about to pull a leather-bound volume from the shelf. When she noticed them, she left the hand drop and turned to face them, frowning.

"You smell like someone I know," Natsu said with a scowl. "But I know you're not her. Who are you?"

The woman's forehead wrinkled, and her gaze swept over the young man who had addressed her.

"Are you a Dragon Slayer?" she asked.

"No, I'm a dragon."

"I see." The woman let out a distinctly grumpy sigh. "I expect that means you know Grandeeney. This is why I hate dealing with dragons. It always feels so awkward. I had to change my name because of you people."

Natsu blinked, startled by her tirade, then asked with some incredulity, "Wait, you wouldn't happen to be Porlyusica, would you?"

The woman's lips tightened, and her stare grew suspicious. "That's me. Who's asking?"


	27. Healer from Another World

The woman before them was... younger than they had expected. As a rule, highly knowledgeable and powerful wizards tended to be... on the elderly side, especially in areas like healing and medicine. This person looked barely into her twenties, although the stern set of her features did give her appearance a certain gravitas.

"So you're Igneal's son. It's been a few years since I last spoke to him—or any other dragon, for that matter. What about you?" She directed this question at Zeref. "I know you have to be human, because you two couldn't have gotten in here otherwise."

The dark wizard should have been prepared for this question, but with the eventful journey they'd had thus far, he hadn't actually gotten around to thinking about what he would tell the healer about himself when—if—they found her aside from the facts of his curse.

"I'm currently going by Era," he said, reaching for the first name he could think of that wouldn't immediately link him with rumors he didn't want to be linked with.

"Currently going by?" she repeated dryly. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. So the two of you were looking for me?"

Natsu answered for the both of them. "Yeah, we thought you might be able to help us."

Although now that they had found her, they weren't so sure about this.

After outlining their situation for her, Natsu said, "Dad told me that you're a really great healer, and that you've got experience with breaking curses."

Porlyusica didn't respond right away. The three of them were seated around one of the stone tables on the bottom floor of the great library. A pot of tea sat in the middle of the smooth tabletop along with a bowl of fruit and a plate of sliced bread.

The young woman took a sip of her tea before she spoke, the long, pale pink locks that framed her face swaying with the motion. "I'm probably not the kind of healer you think I am. You see, I can't actually use any magic, not like you can."

"But anyone can use magic if they want to learn," Zeref said, bewildered.

"That's true in this world," she replied, "but where I'm originally from, magic doesn't work that way. We have to rely on magical tools."

"You mean you really are from another world?" Natsu asked, intrigued. "That's cool, being able to travel to different worlds."

"I didn't come here by choice," the healer snapped. "I fell through a rift in space and ended up here years ago. I've been trying to find a way to return home."

Oh. Well, that was certainly a different story. Traveling to other worlds was one thing. Being stranded in one not your own was something else entirely.

"Does that mean you can't help us?" Zeref asked, looking up from his own untouched cup of tea.

"That depends." Porlyusica rested her elbows on the table and laced her fingers before her, inspecting the two wizards over her clasped hands. "I've found that people in your world rely too much on magic more often than not. When you encounter a curse, the first thing you think of is countering it with another spell. Sometimes, that works. But from what I've seen, a lot of curses break by themselves when the conditions are right."

Natsu scratched the back of his head. "Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning," she said, "that I can't break your curse for you, but I might be able to help you break it yourself."

She paused for a moment to let this sink in then said, "I'm surprised that someone was actually able to curse you though. I was under the impression that Fire Dragon Magic was extremely corrosive to other types of magic."

"It is," Natsu said. "It surprised me too. I guess the wizards who cast it must have been really, really terrified of me turning back into a dragon. Since I was already in my human shape at the time, all the curse had to do was stop the transformation."

"So a simple spell fueled by powerful motivation," she mused. "I suppose that explains how it's lasted this long. I don't suppose you remember how many wizards there were?"

"I know I took something like a dozen knives and money pouches from them, and I don't think any of them carried more than one of each. So probably about twelve."

The healer raised her eyebrows. "You robbed them?"

"Hey, they were the ones who were trying to kill me. I figured I had the right. I mean, I could have killed them instead. They owed me something for my trouble."

Fair enough.

"Have you actually tried to transform back recently?"

"Uh, no, I guess I haven't."

He hadn't exactly had an opportunity to. Back in Incense Wood, they'd run into Xander, and then after that, it had been one near disaster after another. And... well, Natsu had sort of been having fun as a human.

Porlyusica shook her head in mild exasperation. "Well, this library has another entrance that opens into an uninhabited valley. When I'm done with my tea, we can head out there and you can try to transform. We can figure out how to handle things from there."

"Uh, thanks. Not to seem ungrateful or anything, but you agreed to help way more quickly than I expected."

The healer looked down into her teacup, tilting it slightly so that the light reflected upon the tea's surface shifted and rippled. "Your father helped me out when I first arrived here. I don't like to deal with dragons, but that doesn't mean I wasn't grateful."

Here, she frowned and looked at Zeref. "You, however... Your case is a lot more complicated. I'm afraid that it's most likely beyond my abilities."

The dark-haired wizard lowered his head. "I understand."

The stern edges of the healer's expression softened a little. "I've learned a great deal about magic and medicine from studying the records in this library, but I've really only scratched the surface of all the information that's stored here. Just because I don't have answers for you doesn't mean they don't exist. I can refer you to a few sections that might be of help to you."

He nodded, although his gaze remained fixed on the contents of his own teacup. "Thank you."

.

It felt, if not the same as when he had first tried to transform after the curse, then at least very similar. Natsu would summon up the power he needed for the transformation, but then it was like all of it ran up against a glass wall. The magic just wouldn't quite take hold, and he ended up with a storm of flames instead.

Porlyusica took a step back from the library doorway and raised an arm to shield her face from a gust of searing wind.

"So it's more like your magic is being diverted to a different spell rather than simply being stopped," she observed, squinting through the fiery maelstrom. "That explains why you haven't just been able to shatter it. It's trickier than a simple barrier. I'll need you to try it a few more times so I can see how that's actually happening."

Natsu let the magic dissipate. It was a good thing that this valley was mostly rock and dirt. What vegetation had managed to survive here was probably going to end up reduced to ashes by the time he was done.

"I'm starting again," he told her.

But he'd no sooner gathered the energy this time when it slipped away from him. He cursed.

"Watch your mouth," the healer snapped. "I don't approve of such language. Are you even trying?"

"Of course I'm trying!"

"Well, it doesn't look that way to me. If you're not going to focus, I'm not going to waste my time."

Natsu let out a frustrated growl, but he couldn't really argue with her. It was just difficult to concentrate on this right now. His mind kept wandering back to a certain dark-haired wizard that he'd left back in the library. Zeref had told him to come out here and do this, but still... The wizard had to be feeling dejected. Was it really okay for him to be alone right now? Zeref wasn't the kind of person who dealt all that well with being left alone with his own depressing thoughts. Natsu ought to know that by now, so what was he doing out here?

Porlyusica regarded him with pursed lips for a moment then sighed. "You really care for that boy, don't you?"

Natsu dragged his attention back to the present. "Yeah, I do. He's important to me."

The healer turned her head to glance back over her shoulder down the hall towards the main chamber. She couldn't see the boy from here, but they had left him sitting at the table where they'd had their discussion. He could still be there, or he could have found somewhere else to think.

"Living like that would be hard on anyone with half a conscience," she acknowledged. "Frankly, I don't know how he's coped with it for as long as he has. I'd have lost my mind a long time ago."

She shook her head. "Well, we won't get anything done when your mind's obviously elsewhere. If you're that worried, go talk to him."

Natsu looked away. He wanted to, but...

"I feel kind of bad," he admitted. "I was the one who convinced him to come here with me. But now it looks like I'll be able to fix my problem, but he won't."

"And is he the kind of person who would begrudge you that?"

"No, he isn't."

It was one reason Natsu loved him. Zeref would be genuinely happy for him. He wasn't the kind of person who would go drawing comparisons between their situations and holding petty envies. He might be somewhat fragile emotionally and have a distressingly low perception of his own worth, but he had a very strong and stable sense of self.

The healer's lips twitched as though she was suppressing the urge to smile. "Then what are you waiting for?"

.

Natsu found Zeref sitting outside on the ledge before the waterfall, watching the water rush past—a moving wall between them and the rest of the world. The wizard's head was bowed and his shoulders were slightly hunched beneath his dove gray cloak.

Natsu sat down next to him and asked, "You okay?"

Zeref scooted closer to him, curling against Natsu's side and resting his head against his shoulder. He was obviously feeling down, Natsu knew that—had expected it—but the dragon couldn't help being pleased that the wizard apparently found his presence comforting and would willingly seek him out when distressed.

"I didn't really expect her to be able to help me," Zeref admitted after a moment's silence. "I hoped, but deep down, I don't think I ever truly believed that it was possible. I'm not sure why I'm letting it bother me this much."

Natsu put an arm around him and rubbed soothing circles on his back. "You're just disappointed. That's perfectly understandable."

Zeref sighed. "I suppose."

"I'm... kind of disappointed too," Natsu told him. "I'm sorry that she can't help you."

"Please don't be. It's not your fault."

"You know this doesn't change anything, right?" Natsu asked. "I still want you to stay with me."

There was a pause then Zeref nodded against his shoulder.

"Thank you."

Natsu glanced down at the black hair on the top of his head, surprised. "For what?"

As far as he was concerned, it seemed like his talking the Black Wizard into joining him on this journey was what had led to this disappointment. Not that Natsu felt guilty about that or anything. If given the chance to relive that encounter, he would still have done the same thing.

Zeref let out a long sigh that seemed to take all—or at least most—of the disappointment in him with it. "For making me feel like I actually belong somewhere."

Yes, the wizard was disappointed, but the problem of his curse no longer felt as all-consuming as it had before. Like Natsu had once said in the past, there still might be other ways to dispel it. And even if there wasn't, there might be other ways to live with it. It was no longer the only important aspect of his life. He was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is cross-posted on FanFiction.Net (V. Shalyr)


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